Proactive Investors - London's results season is keeping up the pace, with some big retail investor favourites this week, as well as some important mid-month economic data that could move the dial on interest rate expectations.
Companies reporting include lenders Lloyds and HSBC; travel-focused International Consolidated Airlines (IAG), Rolls-Rocye and Intercontinental Hotels; miners Rio Tinto (LON:RIO), Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) and Hochschild; as well as one of the best share price performers last year: BAE Systems (LON:BAES).
MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY
It is likely to be a quiet start to the week as the US (and Canadian) stock markets will be closed on Monday for public holidays, which usually leads to much lower volumes of trading.
Significant announcements expected on Monday 20
Finals: Bank Of Cyprus Holdings PLC, Georgia Capital PLC, LungLife AI Inc (AIM:LLAI)
Interims: Tristel PLC (AIM:TSTL), Wilmington PLC
AGMs: Home REIT (LON:HOMEH) PLC
TUESDAY 21 FEBRUARY
Blue-chip bank season resumes on Tuesday, with HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:LON:HSBA).
Ahead of its update, the lender has attracted some praise recently from several analysts, though the recent updates from Barclays (LON:BARC) and NatWest (LON:NWG) has led to some revised-down views for the wider sector.
HSBC’s shares are flat over the past week as it has a different geographic emphasis from its more UK-focused rivals however, and analysts are expecting big profits and shareholder handouts.
Elsewhere, Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC (LSE:LON:IHG) has been an investor favourite in the run-up to its final results.
Analysts have had lots of positive things to say on the Holiday Inns owner ahead of the release, with some expecting it to join the recent trend for bumper shareholder returns.
Across the pond, there will be some interest for old and new school investments, with Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Global Inc previously saying “re-evaluation of our key business metrics may include changes to or the elimination of certain metrics”, which was just days before former competitor FTX filed for bankruptcy.
In short, this means the fourth-quarter numbers should be interesting.
After Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last year falling to two-year lows on the back of reduced sales growth targets and falling short on profits due to higher costs, the retailer reported third-quarter revenues and that were both well above expectations.
The profit number for the quarter was wiped out by a one-off US$3.1bn opioid settlement, but full-year guidance was upgraded, with a US$20bn share buyback sweetener thrown in.
"The big question is whether Walmart will be able to meet this target given the slowdown in US retail sales seen at the end of last year," said analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets. "In previous quarters Walmart warned that rising prices were prompting a shift away from higher margin goods to lower margin everyday staples. Profits are expected to come in at $1.51c a share."
Significant announcements expected on Tuesday 21
Finals: Antofagasta PLC (LSE:ANTO), HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA), Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC (LSE:IHG)
Interims: Blancco Technology Group (AIM:BLTG), Finsbury Food Group (AIM:FIF), Springfield Properties PLC (AIM:SPR)
Trading updates: Safestore Holdings (LSE:SAFE)
AGMs: Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund PLC, Virgin Money UK PLC (LON:VMUK)
Economic announcements: PMI Composites (UK), PMI Manufacturing (UK), PMI Composite (US), PMI Manufacturing (US), PMI Services (US), Existing Home Sales (US)
US earnings Tuesday: Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), Coinbase Global , The Home Depot (NYSE:HD), Palo Alto (NASDAQ:PANW) Networks, Walmart
WEDNESDAY 22 FEBRUARY
Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) shares have stumbled in the run-up to its annual results, dragged down by the 6%-7% falls for Barclays and NatWest the week before.
The rivals’ numbers were mixed however, with Barclays UK business doing well, and NatWest brought down by its cautious outlook, so it remains to be seen whether the read-across was correct.
That same outlook may be repeated for Lloyds, though it has been projected by many to be among those unleashing the most jumbo-sized shareholder returns.
Over in the mining sector, results from Rio Tinto PLC (LSE:RIO) and Hochschild Mining (LON:HOCM) PLC (LSE:HOC, OTCQX:HCHDF) continue another of the week’s themes, a day after copper-focused Antofagasta.
Rio’s production update last month matched its full year guidance, though Pilbara iron ore shipments were a bit short.
For the year ahead it upped copper guidance to further expand its focus on the red metal.
Over in New York, Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) numbers will be in focus, especially for those who have tipped them for their pick of the year.
Having hit two-year lows back in October, the shares are up 48% this year and have retraced half of the decline from the record highs from November 2021, though coming off in recent days as concerns over the economic outlook increase.
Last summer Nvidia warned on its margins as well as cutting its revenue outlook, amid a slowdown in gaming revenue, before the third quarter saw revenues lower but demand for its data centre chips improving to offset slowing demand for gaming chips, but profits slightly below expectations.
"Since the start of this year Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) indicated that demand for gaming had remained lower, which is likely to be reflected in Nvidia’s revenue on the gaming side. Demand for higher specification AI chips could well offer some hope here with Nvidia a key supplier in this area," said CMC's Michael Hewson.
Earnings per share are expected to come in at US$0.81.
In macroeconomic news, minutes from the last US Federal Reserve meeting will be the main story with this and several Fed speakers during the week potentially revealing that the central bank was not far from hiking rates by 50bp rather than 25bp in February.
Significant announcements expected on Wednesday 22
Finals: Conduit Holdings Limited, Hochschild Mining PLC (LSE:HOC, OTCQX:HCHDF), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY), Primary Health Properties PLC (LSE:PHP, OTC:PHPRF), Rio Tinto PLC (LSE:RIO), Synetics PLC, TBC Bank (LSE:TBCG) Group Plc, The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (LSE:TRIG)
Interims: Avingtrans PLC (AIM:AVG), Transense Technologies (AIM:TRT) PLC
AGMs: Barkby Group PLC, Gooch & Housego PLC (AIM:GHH), Inspirit Energy Holdings PLC (LSE:INSP), RWS Holdings (AIM:RWS) PLC, Tharisa PLC (LSE:THS, JSE:THA, OTC:TIHRF)
Economic announcements: Fed minutes (US), MBA Mortgage Applications (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US)
US earnings: Fiverr International, Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY), Lucid Group, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Teladoc (NYSE:TDOC) Health, Unity Software, Virgin Galactic
THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY
Defence group BAE Systems PLC (LSE:BA.) was one of the best performing blue-chips of the year, as demand unsurprisingly rose on the back of the war in Ukraine.
The results on Thursday should be 'solid', according to Barclays.
Over in the energy sector, Drax Group (LSE:LON:DRX) was recently flagged by analysts at JP Morgan for some sizeable upside.
This followed shares in the power stations group receding from late December's three-month highs, which the analysts said looked “an overreaction, in a context where the market did not price in the value of higher power prices to begin with.”
Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:LON:RR.) is a retail investor favourite and any backers who got in last autumn are enjoying around 60% gains.
These results and accompanying commentary are going to be crucial for the short-term movement of the shares, UBS said, most specifically “the nature of the commentary from the new chief executive”.
Greencoat UK Wind PLC (LSE:UKW) is also expected to release results this week, with analysts recently pointing out it has significant surplus cash for reinvestment following its conservative approach to higher wholesale energy prices last year.
Significant announcements expected on Thursday 23
Finals: Anglo American PLC (LSE:LON:AAL), BAE Systems PLC (LSE:BA.), Drax Group (LSE:DRX), Driver Group (AIM:DRV), Greencoat UK Wind PLC, Harmony Energy Income Trust PLC (LSE:HEIT), Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LSE:LON:HIK, OTC:HKMPF), Howden Joinery Group (LSE:HWDN (LON:HWDN)) PLC, Mondi PLC (LSE:LON:MNDI), Morgan Sindall Group PLC (LSE:MGNS), Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:RR.), Serco Group PLC (LSE:LON:SRP), Spectris PLC (LSE:LON:SXS), WPP PLC (LSE:LON:WPP)
Interims: Genus PLC (LSE:LON:GNS), Hays (LON:HAYS) PLC (LSE:HAS), Made Tech Group PLC (AIM:MTEC)
AGMs: Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company PLC (LSE:FSF), Integrafin Holdings PLC
Ex-dividends to reduce FTSE 100 by: 20.62 points (AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN), Barclays, Endeavour Mining, GSK, Land Securities, Standard Chartered (LON:STAN), Unilever (LON:ULVR))
Economic announcements: Continuing Claims (US), GDP (Prelim) (US), Initial Jobless Claims (US), Crude Oil Inventories (US)
US earnings: Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA), Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Newmont, Block, Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU), Lemonade, Liberty Global (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:LBTYA) A, Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) C
FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY
Finishing off the week will be another share that has fascinated retail investors in recent years, British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG) SA (LSE:IAG) .
These results will provide a keenly awaited update on its post-Covid recovery, like Rolls, with its shares up almost 30% since the start of 2023 but still below where they were 12 months ago.
The Anglo-Iberian airline group is still only in the “early stages of recovery,” according to one analyst, while agreeing that this year is set to be “much better” for airlines than had recently been envisaged.
Inflation headlines will dominate macro matters, with the US core core personal consumer expenditure (PCE) deflator under the microscope, having fallen back sharply from 5.2% in September to 4.4% in December, its lowest level since October 2021.
Core PCE is set to drop to 4.1% for January, with the monthly figure of 0.4%.
However, says economist James Knightley at ING, there is "nothing stopping the Fed from hiking rates in March".
UK consumer confidence for February is predicted to ease from minus-45 to a still-gloomy minus-44.
Significant announcements expected on Friday 24
Finals: International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG), Jupiter Fund Management PLC (LSE:JUP)
Interims: CVS Group (AIM:CVSG) PLC
AGMs: Caledonian Trust (AIM:CNN) PLC, Ediston Property Investment Company Plc (LSE:EPIC)
Economic announcements: GFK Consumer Confidence (UK), Personal Consumption Expenditures (US), Personal Income (US), Personal Spending (US), New Homes Sales (US), U. of Michigan Confidence (Final) (US)