After a bit of a hiatus, the week’s coming earnings are once again back on my radar. As we head into this week (October 17) it’s a notable stretch for finance companies like Bank of America
United Airlines-Reporting Tuesday After Close
American Airlines/Alaska Airlines
ALK
-Reporting Thursday Before Open
Why: It’s understood that airlines and their peers suffered specific challenges and financial fallout during the height of COVID-19, but the aftershock that carried over into this past summer’s travel season was, to say the least, a “pain point.” Delays, lost luggage, staff shortages, and straight up cancellations became the situation du jour at airports across the globe, but an increasing number of consumers continued the uptick in their demand for tickets outta Dodge or for business travel accommodations, especially when compared to summer 2020. Air travel still often remains the easiest way to get from Point A to Point B despite inconveniences, and as the globe heads toward the collective Holiday and Winter high season travel period, there is plenty of reason to keep an eye out.
My Question: How much did the last quarter’s issues impact these companies’ bottom lines and what are they planning to do for the upcoming major travel windows like Holiday, Winter, and even Spring Break?
JB Hunt-Reporting Tuesday After Close
CSX
CSX
-Reporting Thursday After Close
Why: Shipping! If you follow what’s been going on in the world of shipping, at some point, you might have gotten a little bit of whiplash. Consider the obstacles: port disruption, supply chain fallout, potential labor shortages, and so forth, and it’s easy to see why some companies have opted to lease their own barges and open up more fulfillment centers to help ease any shipping woes. Even though JB Hunt is primarily trucking and CSX is affiliated with rail transportation, together they are a dynamic duo that tells us more about the current state of shipping overall.
My Question: How did these two handle the aforementioned issues, et al, and what were the impacts? Can they see a way forward?
P&G-Reporting Wednesday Before Open
Why: P&G is a legacy name in consumer goods and staples. With costs going up across-the-board as consumers have less spend power, consumer staples are often immune or protected from being dealbreakers. Instead, the consumer discretionary sector feels the squeeze. P&G also landed on Forbes Advisor’s Best Consumer Staple Stocks of 2022 list, further indicating that there’s strength in simple things dubbed necessities like paper goods and shampoo.
My Question: With inflation where it is and consumer needs continuing despite that, is the impact a negative or positive for P&G?
Whirlpool
WHR
-Reporting Thursday After Close
Why: Whirlpool made my list last time around when I noted that headwinds in the sector included materials costs and inventory shortages. My question then tackled supply and demand and wondered how they intended to cope going forward, a theme I return to often with this question session. On the company’s conference call, Chairman and CEO Marc Bitzer acknowledged the woes, but added, “thanks to our strong balance sheet, transformation efforts, and the hard work of the team, Whirlpool continues to perform better today than in the past and we will see a record performance over the medium term.” Bitzer also shared that raw material inflation was a “significant headwind” that created a negative impact at Whirlpool to the tune of 750 basis points.
My Question: This time around, what new issues, if any, presented themselves and how has Whirlpool fared in light of them?
Winnebago-Reporting Wednesday Before Open
Las Vegas Sands-Reporting Wednesday After Close
Why: If there was a “tug-of-war” happening in consumer discretionary, I’d put these two as competitors on opposite sides of the line. You can’t get more different yet versatile when considering these two. Winnebago was a huge winner during the COVID-19 days as the company saw an increasing number of people hitting the road in their vehicles. But the more indoor venues suffered a decline since customers opted to skip conventions, avoid indoor venues, and opt for at-home entertainment instead in some instances. The recovery and rebound for indoor spaces of leisure and entertainment has no doubt begun, but the RV craze still rolls on.
My Question: Mostly, I’m fascinated about the consumer demand story at both companies during this past quarter. Summer is made for adventure and travels, so where did people go and how did they get there?
Before we wrap this week’s earnings to ponder up, other names I’m watching include Netflix
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gracelwilliams/2022/10/18/jb-hunt-pg–whirlpool-a-look-at-some-of-the-earnings-coming-the-week-of-october-17/