The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.40%) hasn't seen the gains that some other stock market indexes have enjoyed during 2023. With only modest gains for the year, some investors with heavy concentrations in Dow components feel like they're missing out on the rally elsewhere in the market.
Market participants hope that the beginning of earnings season could change that, and there are a couple of Dow Jones stocks that will report their latest financial results this week. Investors should be on the lookout for quarterly reports from Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA 0.57%) and Nike (NKE 0.19%), because what they say could have implications for industry peers and other Dow stocks.
Walgreens aims to get healthy
On Tuesday, Walgreens Boots Alliance is scheduled to release its fiscal third-quarter financial report for the period ended May 31. Investors are hopeful that the drugstore retailer can recover some of its former glory, as shares have traded near levels from more than a decade ago.
The fiscal second-quarter results that Walgreens released in late March showed just how much pressure the company has been under lately. Revenue inched higher by 3.3% year over year to $34.9 billion, but adjusted earnings fell 27% from year-earlier levels to $1.16 per share. The company blamed lower volumes of COVID-19 vaccines and testing for much of the pressure on its financial performance.
However, CEO Rosalind Brewer pointed to the acquisition of Summit Health by Walgreens' VillageMD unit as a big step forward in the transformation of the business. By making Walgreens a big participant in the primary healthcare industry, the acquisition could prompt more traffic into its physical stores, which in turn could have a positive impact on sales of both healthcare-related products and of revenue from other goods that you'll find in Walgreens drugstores.
Currently, investors expect earnings to climb more than 10% year over year to $1.07 per share, with a return to slightly healthier revenue growth rates of around 5%. If Walgreens can deliver that level of growth and then some, it could finally get its stock price out of the malaise it has been suffering from for more than five years.
Nike looks to vault ahead
Nike is scheduled to report its financial results on Thursday. The athletic footwear and apparel pioneer also trades well below its best levels from two years ago, and investors will look at the fiscal fourth-quarter financial report for the period ended May 31 as a sign of the strength or weakness of consumer spending trends.
Nike's most recent quarterly report, released in late March, showed mixed results for the company. Revenue climbed 14% year over year, despite facing 5 percentage points of adverse currency-related headwinds. In particular, the Nike Direct business saw a 17% sales increase, and wholesale sales also managed to hold up well. However, inventory levels were somewhat elevated, weighing on gross margin and causing earnings to fall 9% from year-earlier levels to $0.79 per share.
Over the past month, though, investors have begun to fear that the overhang from high inventory levels could keep hurting earnings this quarter as well. Higher costs of freight have been problematic, and to get older products out the door, Nike has had to resort increasingly to price discounting.
Investors demand solid growth from Nike, and they've been expecting consumers to try to keep the broader economy from falling into a recession. Anything from Nike's report later this week that goes against that narrative could be a huge disappointment to shareholders.
