The Week in Preview: Expectations for Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Hewlett-Packard

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Wal-Mart (WMT), Home Depot (HD), Target Corp. (TGT)

Walmart WMT Overall April retail sales numbers were better than expected, and last week's quarterly results from Kohl's (KSS), Macy's (M), Nordstrom (JWN) and Urban Outfitters (URBN) were strong. This week, the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is scheduled to report earnings, along with big-box store operators Target Corp. (TGT) and Home Depot Inc. (HD). Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting strong results from these mega retailers as well, and from many others reporting this week.

Unlike the other companies featured in this post, Walmart isn't expected to post double-digit earnings growth, but strong earnings growth nonetheless. The empire that founder Sam Walton built announced a collaboration with Procter & Gamble (PG), acquired a digital entertainment provider, and increased its annual dividend during its first quarter. Earnings for that period are expected to total $0.85 per share, a increase of 9.4% from the same period of the previous year. Revenue for the three months that ended in April is expected to have risen 4.5% in the past year to $98.5 billion. And analysts so far expect to see sequential and year-over-year earnings and revenue growth in the second quarter. Walmart's per-share earnings met or beat consensus estimates in the past five quarters, beating by four cents per share in the fourth quarter.

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The Week in Preview: Expectations for Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Hewlett-Packard originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 16 May 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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