Earnings season has begun to wind down, what with the March 1 deadline that many companies face having just passed. But we've seen plenty over the past week or so on the quarterly reports of some of our favorite stocks.
Blogging Stocks readers were pessimistic ahead of the release from Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD), 57% of you predicting in our poll that it would fall short of analysts' expectations. Only 17% thought HD would beat expectations, but 26% of you were correct that the earnings were in line with, admittedly low, expectations.
Readers were also pessimistic on Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA). 41% of you voted in our poll that VIA would miss expectations, though a respectable 32% predicted that it would meet analysts' expectations. But the 27% who thought it would beat expectations turned out to be correct, as the purchase of DreamWorks helped lift Viacom.
You were split on Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) ahead of its earnings release. 36% predicted earnings would be in line with expectations and 35% of you thought it would fall short. But on March 1 we saw that strong competition, weak sales, and legal entanglements were too much for Dell and it missed expectations.
Speaking of splitting your votes: XM Satellite Radio Holdings (NASDAQ:XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NYSE:SIRI), the only two real players in the satellite radio market, reported quarterly earnings just a day apart. To the casual observer, these companies may look more similar than different, which was reflected in the recent announcement of their intention to merge. Yet clearly our readers have a favorite, as 57% of predicted XM would fall short of analysts' expectations, while 61% thought Sirius would beat expectations. Your favoritism aside, XM ended up beating expectations (which only 19% of you predicted), while Sirius's earnings were in line with expectations (which 27% predicted). Still, they were more alike than different when you take into account that XM only beat expectations by a penny.
Our readers returned to their previous optimism when it came to earnings from Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT), 67% voting beat; Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A), 62% voting beat; and Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ:WFMI), 58% voting beat. While you were correct on the previous two, WFMI fell short, despite strong same-store sales growth and its announced purchase of rival Wild Oats Markets (NASDAQ:OATS). Only 15% of you saw that coming.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM), which already delayed its quarterly report once claiming a need to update accounting numbers, has delayed again past its 3/1 deadline. We'll keep an eye on that.
In terms of how you, our readers, did in this round against Wall Street in your predictions via our reader polls, we'll have to chalk up Home Depot and Sirius to the analysts, and Target and Berkshire Hathaway to you. A tie. But everyone missed the boat on Whole Foods, XM, Dell, and Viacom.
Coming soon are quarterly reports from Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) and FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX). Watch for our earnings previews and let us know what you're expecting.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-06-2007 @ 12:39PM
Ray Lanfear said...
Inregard to Home Depot earnings. They will
continue to not meet expectations, simply
for the reason that Lowes continues to take
a "slice of the pie" away, everytime they open
a new store. They are opening several in Canada
this year, as well as many more locations throughout the USA, often right next to Home Depot.
Home Depot's growth period is definitely over, while Lowes continues their growth.
3-06-2007 @ 4:33PM
Bill Jacoby said...
As a long-suffering shareholder, I'm still pulling a bit of cash from this stock by selling the close-in calls (most recently the May 42 1/2's). Along with the 2% plus dividend, it'll return about 6% a year with decent safety.