3 out of 5 companies miss revenue estimates this week – Earnings Scorecard

The S&P 500 (SP500) plunged 4.25% for the holiday-shortened week, posting its worst weekly performance since early March 2023.

Non-farm payroll data showed softer-than-expected jobs growth in August and significant downward revisions to the figures for June and July. The report fanned more growth worries, and also sparked a debate among experts as to what should be the size of the expected Federal Reserve interest rate cut later this month.

September continues to be a weak month for the S&P 500 index, which had witnessed a huge selloff last month after the July jobs report ignited concerns that the economy was heading to a recession. To add to these worries, out of the five S&P 500 companies which reported earnings this week, three of them missed revenue estimates. Three companies also reported a y-o-y decline in EPS.

Consumer sector companies such as Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) and Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) along with Copart (NASDAQ:CPRT) missed revenue expectations for the quarter.

Dollar Tree (DLTR) fell in early trading on Wednesday after the retailer fell short of estimates with its FQ2 earnings results.EPS was reported at $0.67 vs. $0.74 consensus and $0.91 a year ago.

The retailer also lowered its full-year outlook to below the consensus marks due to unfavorable development of general liability claims, higher depreciation expense from store investments and higher utilities cost.

Hormel Foods (HRL) had a similar story to tell as it lowered its FY24 sales guidance below Wall Street’s expectations because of production disruptions at its Suffolk, Virginia facility due to a listeria-related recall, and declines in its manufacturing business.

Hormel (HRL) is now expecting sales to be within the range of $11.8B to $12.1B from previous guidance of $12.2B to $12.5B. This falls below the consensus estimate of $12.13B.

Contrary to the consumer sector, the tech sector fared well, with both Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) and Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPE) beating both revenue and EPS estimates.

For the third-quarter, Broadcom (AVGO) earned an adjusted $1.24 per share as revenue rose 47% year-over-year to $13.07B. A consensus of analysts expected the company to report adjusted earnings per share of $1.20 on revenue of $12.96B.

HP Enterprise (HPE) lifted its guidance on the back of AI demand and now expects adjusted earnings for the fiscal year to be between $1.92 and $1.97 per share, up from a prior view of $1.85 to $1.95 per share.

For the upcoming week, several names are scheduled to report results, with Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) reporting on Monday, while Thursday is expected to include Kroger (NYSE:KR) and Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE).