Walmart (WMT)
Walmart is expected to announce its quarterly results in the US before the stock market opens and analysts expect an increase in sales compared to the previous year.
For the second quarter of fiscal 2025, America’s largest retailer is expected to report revenue growth of 4.23% to $168.46 billion (£131 billion), while adjusted earnings per share are expected to rise 5.22% to $0.65.
In the U.S., comparable-store sales are expected to rise 3.41 percent, with membership wholesaler Sam’s Club up 3.9 percent and its namesake store up 3.43 percent, according to Bloomberg estimates.
As the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart is in a unique position to provide insights into where consumers spend and save their money.
UBS analyst Michael Lasser expects that “consumer sentiment has remained constant overall.”
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“Remember, Walmart primarily sells groceries and other household products and is gaining market share, so the company’s experience will be a little different from other retailers,” Lasser told Yahoo Finance.
Analysts at Bank of America Securities expect Walmart to continue to gain market share across all consumer income brackets in the final quarter thanks to its “strong value proposition” and increasing digitization and automation efforts.
Cisco shares rose in premarket trading after the networking company announced plans to cut 7% of its global workforce and reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
In its fiscal fourth quarter, Cisco reported revenue of $13.6 billion, down 10 percent year over year, and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.54, down 44 percent. This was still above the consensus forecast of $13.53 billion.
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For the first quarter of fiscal 2025, Cisco forecasts revenue in the range of $13.65 billion to $13.85 billion, with the midpoint slightly above the analyst consensus of $13.71 billion. The company expects adjusted earnings per share of $0.86 to $0.88.
Cisco also announced plans for job cuts and expects to incur pre-tax costs of up to $1 billion for severance and other one-time compensation. The cuts will reduce Cisco’s workforce of 90,400 employees by about 7% – a loss of more than 6,300 jobs.
The company said the cuts would allow it to focus on higher-growth areas such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI).
Nike (NKE)
Nike shares rose in premarket trading after news that Pershing Square Capital Management acquired a new stake in the sportswear giant from billionaire investor Bill Ackman.
Pershing Square disclosed in its most recent regulatory filing that it held a stake in Nike of approximately 3 million shares valued at nearly $230 million at the end of June.
These are the first new investments for Pershing Square – which manages about $17 billion in assets – since the company invested money in Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL) in the first quarter of 2023.
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Activist investors, aside from those critical of the company on social and environmental (ESG) grounds, have largely avoided Nike. But markets are expecting some change as Ackman has cemented his fortune by pushing companies to perform better on ESG.
The company’s board of directors is controlled by Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who, together with his son, owns almost all outstanding voting shares.
Admiral’s shares jumped after the company reported rising profits for the first half of the year as it attracted more customers by offering lower premiums.
The British insurance group reported a better-than-expected 32% rise in pre-tax profits to GBP 310 million in the first half, driven by improved underwriting performance and the release of claims in the year to date. Revenue rose 43% to GBP 3.2 billion.
The increase is mainly due to the 12% increase in the number of customers to over 10.5 million.
Through 2022 and 2023, Admiral increased insurance premiums in response to “increased claims inflation”. Admiral said it had “moderately” reduced rates in early 2024 as market rates were still rising, resulting in an “improved competitive position and significant growth in the number of UK motor customers”.
In addition, an interim dividend of 71 pence per share was announced, including a special distribution of 19.7 pence per share, representing an increase of 39%.
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