Third quarter earnings season begins next week. A few, but not all, names worth watching include PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP), Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA), Citigroup Inc. (C) and Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL). The quartet should help investors and Wall Street compile an early picture of the health of consumers and the impact of rising prices.
We the people and our spending habits account for most of the economy. As our willingness to buy goes, so does the GDP. The third quarter is particularly important as it leads to the fourth quarter, which includes holiday shopping. As many in retail know, holiday shopping usually makes or breaks the year.
If consumers are tapping out like a twisted-up UFC fighter, the end of 2022 could be tough. Of the four, we feel like Walgreens will deliver the most complete consumer profile, what they are spending money on, what they are leaving on the shelves, the impact of higher costs on WBA’s margins… You could probably come up with another 100 things to analyze.
Walgreens Boots’ stock chart has been anything but the picture of health. The pharmacy/convenience store has been in a downtrend for all of 2022. There is a little bit of hope that the retailer could find some life in the near-term. Its chart recently displayed a bullish technical buy signal called a MACD Crossover. Essentially, it’s when short-term moving averages move from below to above longer-term moving averages.
If Walgreens’ earnings come in better than Wall Street’s consensus forecast of $0.77 per share on $32.07 billion in revenue with positive guidance, then there is a chance WBA shares could end their slide. If, on the other hand, management paints an uncertain future going into 2023, then shareholders can expect shares to continue its downward path with new 52-week lows.
Rich Meyers
Investing Trends
