The stock market got a rude awakening on Friday, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -1.46%) took the biggest hit after the Federal Reserve once again made clear how serious it is about fighting inflation. The Nasdaq fell more than 3.5% on Friday following hawkish comments from Fed chair Jerome Powell. That decline looked poised to continue on Monday, with futures on the Nasdaq dropping another 1% in early morning trading before the market's regular session began.
When the macroeconomic picture looks dire, investors in the Nasdaq start to look for signs of confirmation from individual companies. That's why all eyes will be on stocks announcing their latest financial results this week. Among the key Nasdaq stocks that will be in the spotlight are Lululemon Athletica (LULU 1.32%) and MongoDB (MDB -1.24%), and what they say about their respective businesses could move the entire stock market.
Can Lululemon stretch higher?
Lululemon Athletica is scheduled to release its latest financial results on Thursday afternoon. What the yoga and athletic apparel specialist says about its second-quarter performance will give investors valuable insight into several key market niches.
On one hand, a number of retailers have already reported recently, and the news has been somewhat mixed. Some of the biggest retail giants in the industry have had inventory problems that prompted them to make big markdowns, hurting margins and leading to short-term hits to their profits.
Yet Lululemon has historically managed to use its brand power to support its growth and profitability, and hopes are high among shareholders that the company will do so again. Current projections from analysts following the yoga retailer are for a roughly 20% year-over-year rise in revenue to $1.76 billion; earnings of $1.86 per share would be up as well, albeit by a more modest 13% from year-ago levels.
Growth investors are pinning their hopes on companies like Lululemon being able to overcome inflationary pressures and a weaker consumer. If Lululemon falls short of what its fans want to see from the yoga retailer, then it could have big implications not just for retailers, but for an entire group of high-growth stocks for which shareholders have similarly high expectations.
MongoDB looks to prove itself
MongoDB shares have fallen even more sharply so far in 2022, with the stock down 28% from where it started the year. However, as with many software-as-a-service stocks, MongoDB's fundamental business has looked strong, and investors want to see more of the same when the cloud database specialist reports its fiscal second-quarter numbers after the market closes on Wednesday.
Shareholders won't be happy with anything short of sustained fast growth. Those following the company expect revenue to rise more than 40% year over year to $282 million. No one has any immediate expectations for MongoDB to start making money in the near future, although incremental progress toward profitability has taken on heightened importance lately across the stock market.
It's especially important for MongoDB to do well in light of the strong results that data cloud company Snowflake released recently. Snowflake's stock jumped sharply as its financials showed that clients remain reliant on the company as part of their digital transformation efforts. MongoDB's tools are different from Snowflake's, but it, too, will want to establish that enterprise customers are still highly engaged on its platform.
Software-as-a-service stocks helped lead the Nasdaq higher in 2020 and early 2021, and their fall in late 2021 and 2022 was an instrumental factor that pushed the benchmark index into a bear market. In order for the Nasdaq to recover fully, stocks like MongoDB will have to bounce sharply. Earnings reports like the one this week could bring those share-price gains.
