Earnings Watch: AMD, Novo Nordisk, and Apple

Another busy earnings week with focus on AMD, Novo Nordisk, and Apple

The three stocks we are focusing on for this week’s earnings releases are AMD, Novo Nordisk, and Apple because there are all popular companies, with strong growth record, and important for their respective industries.

Will AMD continue to ride the AI hype?

AMD reports Q1 earnings tomorrow after the US market close with analysts expecting revenue of $5.3bn down 10% y/y and EBITDA of $1.27bn down from $1.71bn a year ago reflecting increased input costs and lower demand as corporate technology spending is declining and gaming is not as hot as during the pandemic. With expectations set low for Q1 we expect AMD to clear this bar easily, but expectations are certainly steeper for the coming quarters as the AI hype with ChatGPT has lifted AMD’s share price 38% this year and thus the Q2 guidance will be key for the market’s reaction.

Novo Nordisk is up against extreme expectations

Novo Nordisk reports Q1 earnings on Thursday before the market opens in Copenhagen with analysts expecting Q1 revenue of DKK 51.8bn up 23% y/y and EBITDA of DKK 25bn up from DKK 20.8bn a year ago driven by strong growth in the company’s weight loss drug Wegovy. Back in early February we wrote a game changer equity note on Novo Nordisk with a special focus on Wegovy as the company’s next important growth driver. Novo Nordisk has got a head start on this new class of weight loss drugs with Eli Lilly waiting for its FDA approval and the market is really excited about the growth outlook sending Novo Nordisk shares up 21% this year.

Can Apple get back to above average growth?

Apple reports FY23 Q2 earnings (ending 31 March) on Thursday after the market close with analysts expecting revenue of $92.6bn down 5% y/y and EBITDA of $30.2bn down from $32.7bn a year ago as input costs remain hot demand has been negatively impacted by high inflation in key markets reducing consumers appetite for Apple’s pricier electronic devices such as the iPhone. We expect Apple to guide weak Mac sales and the risk has gone up that iPhone guidance could disappoint as well. With the share price up 31% this year expectations might be too high for even Apple.

The list below shows all the most important earnings releases to watch this week with especially Thursday being the main course with key earnings from Shopify on e-commerce, Maersk on logistics, Volkswagen and BMW on EV growth, Infineon on semiconductor pick-up, Rheinmetall on EU military spending, Zalando on EU consumer spending, Shell on energy markets, ArcelorMittal on steel demand, Booking on travel, Ferrari on luxury, and lastly Fortinet on cyber security.

• Monday: Berkshire Hathaway, Stryker, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, NXP Semiconductors
  
  
• Tuesday: Thomson Reuters, HSBC, BP, DBS Group, Geberit, Pfizer, AMD, Starbucks, Uber Technologies, Marathon Petroleum, Ford Motor
  
  
• Wednesday: Barrick Gold, Orsted, Airbus, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Post, Enel, UniCredit, Lloyds Banking Group, Qualcomm, CVS Health, Estee Lauder, MercadoLibre, Kraft Heinz
  
  
• Thursday: National Australia Bank, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Shopify, Novo Nordisk, Maersk, Volkswagen, BMW, Infineon Technologies, Uniper, Rheinmetall, Zalando, Shell, ArcelorMittal, Equinor, Apple, ConocoPhillips, Booking, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Zoetis, Becton Dickinson, EOG Resources, Ferrari, Fortinet
  
  
• Friday: ANZ, Macquire Group, Enbridge, Canadian Natural Resources, Adidas, Intesa Sanpaolo, CaixaBank, Cigna Group