1. Bank of America
Financials - Diversified Financial Services | Reports July 18, before the open
The Estimize consensus on Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) calls for EPS of $0.46, three cents higher than Wall Street consensus and an increase of 28% YoY. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for sales of $22.25B, also higher than Wall Street’s $21.91B.
Since Donald Trump was elected and the Federal Reserve began increasing rates the stock has been on a bullish run. Recently, BoA also passed the stress test which allowed them to raise their dividend to 48 cents a share which is a 60 percent increase. With the dividend hike and the passing of the stress test, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) has the opportunity to become the largest shareholder. Bank of America has been on a buyback bonanza which is a good signal for investors, who believe this is due to its undervalued nature.
2. The Goldman Sachs Group
Financials - Capital Markets | Reports July 18, before the open
The Estimize consensus on Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) calls for EPS of $3.69, 18 cents higher than Wall Street consensus and a loss of 1% YoY. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for sales of $7.77B, also higher than Wall Street’s $7.57B.
Last quarter, investors were surprised by Goldman’s negative earnings, and they are now hoping for a positive surprise later today. However, analysts are predicting trading revenues to decrease YoY as well as investment banking revenue.
3. Johnson & Johnson
Healthcare - Pharmaceuticals | Reports July 18, before the open
The Estimize consensus on Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) calls for EPS of $1.82, three cents higher than the Wall Street consensus and an increase of 3% YoY. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for sales of $18.93B which is roughly in line with the Street.
So far this year JNJ is up 13.9% and Estimize data shows that they have been on a streak of posting positive surprises for EPS. Examining their drug portfolio, Concerta sales have slowed due to increasing competition and the same can be said for their cardiovascular drugs. However there are positives, with the company expecting to have numerous drug approvals and the recent $30 billion acquisition of the biopharmaceutical company Actelion (SIX:ATLN).
4. Lockheed Martin Corporation
Industrials - Aerospace & Defense | Reports July 18, before the open
The Estimize consensus calls for Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) to report an EPS of $3.18, nine cents higher than Wall Street consensus and a decrease of 4% YoY. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for sales of $12.53B which is roughly in-line with the Street.
Lockheed Martin has consistently beaten the Street in 2016 and hopes the increased F-35 orders and deliveries will help to carry them. Earlier this year the Pentagon signed a deal with LMT which totaled $5.6 billion and another contract looks to be in the works. Internationally, Lockheed Martin signed a deal with Saudi Arabia for 257 Black Hawk helicopters. The deal includes options for additional aircraft and totals $5.2 billion.
5. IBM
Information Technology - IT Services | Reports July 18, after the close
The Estimize consensus on IBM (NYSE:IBM) calls for EPS of $2.76, three cents higher than the Wall Street consensus. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for revenues of $19.50B, just slightly higher than the Street’s expectation for $19.46B.
In the last three months, EPS estimates for IBM have fallen 14%, with revenues down 2% in that time. This is after Q1 results missed Estimize expectations on the top- and bottom-line, as IBM struggles to expand into higher growth market segments such as cloud, mobile and security, and instead remains hung up in older, saturated markets. The tech behemoth has been posting negative revenue growth since Q1 2012. After increasing 20% in 2016, the stock has tumbled nearly 8% in 2017, despite tech stocks doing well overall.