Earnings season remains in full swing with a slate of major technology companies reporting earnings the week of August 22.
While many of the best-known technology concerns have already announced their second-quarter results, there are still significant firms in the areas of cybersecurity, cloud computing, semiconductors, e-commerce, and personal computers left to report financial results for the April through June period.
Strong prints from these companies in the coming days could help to further boost technology securities as a whole, which have been on an upswing over the past month after badly lagging throughout most of the year.
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article headlined “Tech Stocks Are Back in the Market’s Driver’s Seat,” noting that tech stocks are on the mend now that investors expect inflation to fall and for the U.S. Federal Reserve to ease up on interest rate hikes.
Whether the inflation and interest rate scenario plays out as hoped remains to be seen. But the following stocks could definitely move markets over the next few days. Here are seven technology stocks reporting earnings the week of August 22.
| PANW | Palo Alto Networks | $517.85 |
| JD | JD.com | $55.19 |
| NVDA | Nvidia | $187.73 |
| CRM | Salesforce | $187.93 |
| SNOW | Snowflake | $161.75 |
| MRVL | Marvell Technology | $54.55 |
| DELL | Dell Technologies | $48.94 |
Palo Alto Networks (PAMW)
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The week kicks off with a print from cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW). The company is one of the oldest and most established cybersecurity companies in the U.S.
It also runs the popular “Ignite” annual conference that focuses on global cybersecurity issues and draws experts from all corners of the world.
While the technology sector has been hit hard this year, Palo Alto Networks has largely been spared.
Year to date, PANW stock is down only 5%. The stock is up 9% in the past six months.
Analysts say that Palo Alto Networks has been helped by a renewed focus on cybersecurity attacks in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and following several high-profile domestic incidents.
Wolfe Research recently issued a bullish note saying that PANW stock can rally 40% from current levels as it rolls out its latest and greatest cybersecurity systems.
Analysts are forecasting that Palo Alto Networks will report earnings per share of $7.50 on revenues of $5.53 billion when it announces its financial results on Aug. 22.
JD.com (JD)
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Shares of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) took a hit after it was announced that several large-cap stocks from China would delist in the U.S., including China Life Insurance (NYSE:LFC) and PetroChina (NYSE:PTR).
News of the delisting on American exchanges spooked investors and led them to sell out of many other Chinese securities that currently have dual listings on U.S. and Asian markets, including JD stock, which has now declined 12% in the past month and is down 19% on the year.
An ongoing fight between authorities in Washington, D.C. and Beijing over the accounting practices and standards of publicly listed companies could lead to many more Chinese companies delisting.
While nobody has been talking specifically about JD stock delisting, the share price continues to be impacted by the uncertainty that’s been created.
Analysts expect that JD.com will report earnings per share of 40 cents on revenues of $39.09 billion when it reports its latest quarterly numbers on Aug. 23.
Nvidia (NVDA)
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Microchip and semiconductor giant Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) reports its latest earnings on Aug. 24.
However, the company already made a pre-announcement concerning its upcoming earnings, and it was not good.
On Aug. 8, the chipmaker issued preliminary earnings that showed second-quarter revenue of $6.7 billion, which was well below its initial forecast of $8.1 billion in revenue. NVDA stock immediately fell 8% on the news.
Nvidia blamed the revenue miss on two issues — a shortfall in gaming revenue and ongoing global supply chain disruptions.
The disappointing earnings preannouncement further hurt NVDA stock, which is now down 38% on the year and trading at $187.09. Last November, the stock was trading near $350 per share.
Most analysts have not yet revised down their outlook for Nvidia and the consensus is still for the company to report earnings per share of $1.25 on revenues of $8.1 billion. However, we already know the company will come in lower with its Q2 print.
Salesforce (CRM)
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Another tech stock that has taken its share of knocks this year amid the market downturn is cloud computing giant Salesforce (NASDAQ:CRM).
The company’s share price remains down 27% this year, though it has risen 8% in the past month as equities have rebounded.
The company recently undertook a shuffle among executives in its C-suite, moving Brian Millham into the role of chief operating officer from chief customer success officer, and placing Gavin Patterson in the position of chief strategy officer from chief revenue officer previously.
The company has a lot to live up to with its second-quarter earnings given that it beat analyst expectations in Q1 and lifted its full-year guidance.
The company announced first-quarter earnings per share of 98 cents versus 94 cents per share which was expected by analysts as its revenue rose 24% from a year earlier to $7.41 billion.
Wall Street is expecting a similarly strong print this time around, with analysts forecasting that Salesforce will issue earnings per share of $1.02 on revenues of $7.7 billion. Anything better than that and could prove to be a catalyst for CRM stock.
Snowflake (SNOW)
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Snowflake’s (NYSE:SNOW) share price has been battered this year and is down 49% since January. However, like a lot of tech stocks, it has been on the mend since mid-July and has climbed 11% higher over the past month as inflation begins to ease and investor sentiment improves as a result.
Snowflake, which specializes in cloud-based data storage and analytics service, went public in 2020 and is one of only a handful of tech stocks owned by legendary investor Warren Buffett. It was also one of the few IPOs that Buffett has ever gotten in on.
Despite the market and economic upheaval this year, Snowflake has managed to continue growing its customer base.
It also announced that its customers increased their spending on its products and services by 74% in the first quarter from a year earlier, which is a very high rate among cloud computing firms.
When the company reports second-quarter results on Aug. 24, analysts expect the (still unprofitable) company to announce an earnings per share loss of two cents on revenues of $467 million.
Marvell Technology (MRVL)
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Semiconductor company and Nvidia rival, Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) reports earnings on Aug. 24, and analysts are calling for earnings per share of 56 cents on revenues of $1.52 billion.
Investors will no doubt be hoping for an earnings beat that sends MRVL stock sharply higher.
So far this year, the company’s share price has slumped 38% to trade at $55 per share. Like Nvidia, Marvell has struggled in recent months with supply chain disruptions and sour investor sentiment.
However, there are growing signs that investors are starting to warm towards MRVL stock.
Investors recently bought 48,181 call options on Marvell Technology stock (betting that it will go up), which is 59% more than the average volume of 30,395 call options taken out against the shares.
At the same time, analysts at The Benchmark Company reiterated a “buy” rating on the stock and a $70.00 price target, implying a nearly 30% upside from current levels.
Dell Technologies (DELL)
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Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) has seen its stock perform better than most tech securities this year.
Analysts are pounding the table on Dell stock, screaming that, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.60, the shares are too cheap to ignore.
Add in a quarterly dividend that yields 2.74% (many leading tech companies offer no dividend) and there is a strong case for buying DELL stock.
Analysts at JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) are firmly in the bull camp when it comes to DELL stock. The bank recently slapped an “overweight rating” and a $55 price target on the computer company.
While many on Wall Street are fans of Dell, the company’s share price has been weighed down in recent months by the global semiconductor shortage. Hopefully, that backlog will ease in the coming months.
Wall Street is expecting Dell Technologies to report earnings per share of $1.64 on revenues of $26.54 billion.
On the date of publication, Joel Baglole held a long position in NVDA. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
