The Australian June full and half earnings season ramps up this week with 43 major companies reporting with attention to focus on the figures from Telstra, CSL and Fairfax.
Reports are expected from BlueScope, Aurizon, Domain Holdings (GPT (half year), Argo Investments, Bendigo Bank and JB HiFi today, Whitehaven Coal and Challenger on tomorrow, CSL, Mineral resources, QBE (half year) Pact Group, Seek and HT&E, Fairfax, Woodside, IAG and Wesfarmers on Wednesday), ASX, Breville Group, Iluka (half year), iSelect, Oz Minerals, Downer EDI, Computershare, Telstra, Sonic Healthcare, GWA and Origin on Thursday and Cochlear on Friday.
Less than 15% of companies have reported so its too early to conclude much so far as trends are concerned. Last week’s results from the Commonwealth Bank and the AMP were not
The AMP’s Shane Oliver says "We are expecting 2017-18 earnings growth to come in around 9%, with resources earnings up 25% (albeit down from 130% in 2016-17) thanks to solid commodity prices and rising volumes and the rest of the market seeing profit growth of around 5%. Dividend growth is likely to remain solid.”
He says that so far 47% of results have surprised on the upside but 33% have surprised on the downside both of which are higher than average, 67% of results have seen profits up on a year ago which is around average, 71% of companies have increased their dividends from a year ago but a higher than normal 21% have cut them.
In the US the June 30 second quarter season has almost exhausted itself with just 14 companies listed on S&P 500 reporting next week.
The focus this week shifts to retailers with companies like Macy’s, Nordstrom and Home Depot, along with non-S&P 500 members like JCPenney and Williams-Sonoma, set to unveil quarterly updates.
Walmart, the world’s largest retail chain, is due to report results on Thursday. Analysts are expecting adjusted earnings of $1.22 a share on sales of $126.1bn, according to Thomson Reuters.
The company has switched strategy to better combat Amazon by exiting markets like Germany and South Korea and pivoting to markets like China, Latin America and India, where it spent $US16 billion in buying a stake on online operator, Flipkart earlier this year.
