Trade War Hits New Earnings Reports: BF.B, TIF & More

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

While the markets slog through “known unknowns” of the continuing U.S.-China trade war, which comes up on its one-year anniversary this fall, we see pre-market futures in the red again this morning. From all-time highs last month, we’ve seen a pullback of around 5-6% in the major U.S. indexes.

Nothing is on the docket from a Fed or an economic read perspective this morning, but we do see a couple earnings reports of note late in this earnings season cycle. The good news is that both beat on their respective bottom lines, though neither managed to reach revenue estimates for the quarter.

Distributor of Jack Daniel’s whiskey and Korbel sparkling wines Brown-Forman BF.B topped the Zacks consensus by 2 cents to 39 cents per share in the company’s fiscal Q1 report. Sales of $766 million were down 0.8% from estimates. This marks the fourth straight quarter the company has come short of expectations on the top line.

Brown-Forman mentioned a drag on sales from tariffs slapped on its goods, though shares are still up 1% in today’s pre-market. The stock has risen 24% year-to-date, easily outpacing gains in the S&P 500 over that time period. The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated company has not missed on earnings estimates in 9 straight quarters. For more on BF.B’s earnings, click here.

Luxury retailer Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF) posted a 7-cent beat this morning in its Q2 release to $1.12 per share (down from $1.17 per share in the year-ago quarter). Though the company reported double-digit growth in mainland China for the quarter, it missed revenue estimates by 1.78% to $1.05 billion, down from $1.08 billion a year ago.

For Tiffany’s, the key quarter is the final one of the year, when holiday shopping brings revenues to cyclical high levels. For Q2, though these figures may look a little disappointing, shares are up 1.3% in early trading this morning. TIF stock has only gained 2.7% year to date, so it would appear its difficulties have already been priced into its shares. For more on TIF’s earnings, click here.

Finally, after guiding lower yesterday afternoon following its Q2 earnings report, AutoDesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) shares are tumbling down 12% ahead of today’s opening bell. The company beat estimates on both top ands bottom lines and demonstrated notable year-over-year growth, but the stock — which had been staying in-line with the overall S&P 500 since the start of the year — is now off the pace. For more on ADSK’s earnings, click here.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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