The pace of earnings releases continues to slow, but this gives investors more opportunity to focus on the key names that will report next week.
Investors will be watching the latest results from Salesforce, which provides customer relationship management (CRM) software, to see how the company’s big bet on AI plays out.
Athleisure brand Lululemon’s earnings are also positive, with investors looking for more details on the new styles the retailer is expected to launch in stores next year.
Frasers Group, the British-listed retail company founded by mogul Mike Ashley, has recently made headlines for its moves to help brands take an even bigger share of the industry. Attention will now turn to the half-year results next week.
Another name in the UK market that investors will be watching this week is Berkeley, to see if the latest results show the housebuilder is still on track to meet its profit expectations.
Back in the US, shoe and clothing retailer Foot Locker will also report, with investors hoping to see further progress in their growth plan.
Here you will find more information about what to look out for.
When Salesforce revealed more details about its line of autonomous AI agents ahead of its annual Dreamforce conference in September, the company said the Agentforce platform represented the “third wave of the AI revolution.”
The Agentforce software will clearly be the focus of Salesforce’s third-quarter results, which will be published after the market close on Tuesday, December 3.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told reporters at the time that the deployment of digital agents marked the beginning of a hybrid future in which humans and AI agents work side by side.
“This is the biggest and most exciting piece of technology we have ever worked on,” he said.
The company’s shares saw some turmoil earlier this year, falling sharply after the release of first-quarter fiscal results in May.
However, Salesforce’s second-quarter numbers left investors feeling good as they exceeded expectations in terms of both revenue and revenue.
Revenue came in at $9.3 billion (£7.3 billion), versus an expected $9.2 billion, while adjusted earnings per share of $2.56 beat expectations of $2.35.
Salesforce achieved revenue of between $9.31 billion and $9.36 billion in the third quarter. The company also raised its full-year earnings forecast to a range of $10.03 to $10.11 per share, compared to a previous forecast of $9.86 to $9.94 per share.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L), said: “After a poor start to the year and a reset in expectations, Salesforce appears to be back on track. But it’s still a tough market to As a major software player, companies are taking longer to commit to big deals, and some are still falling for it altogether.”
He said investors would keep a close eye on updates on how Salesforce’s customers are using Agentforce.
“This platform goes beyond chatbots and allows companies to build autonomous agents that can both make decisions and take action,” said Britzman. “The real question is how useful they are in real life, and how long it will take for Salesforce to start making money with this new product – and the answers will hopefully come next week.”
Shares of athleisure brand Lululemon fell lower after reporting second-quarter results in August, with the stock down nearly 38% this year.
While second-quarter revenue grew 7% to $2.37 billion year-over-year, this was just below the expected $3.41 billion.
Earnings per share of $3.15 beat estimates of $2.95 and was higher than the $2.68 reported last year.
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However, Lululemon lowered its full-year guidance, with the company expecting revenue of $10.38 billion to $10.48 billion, down from a previous forecast of $10.7 billion to $10.8 billion.
Earnings expectations were also lowered to a range of $13.95 to $14.15 per share, from $14.27 to $14.47 per share.
One challenge Lululemon faced in the second quarter was strong customer criticism of the fit of its “Breezethrough” leggings, which led to the brand pulling the product from stores in July.
In its post-earnings call in August, Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said the retailer is “rapidly bringing new styles to market” for 2025, according to a Reuters report.
For the third quarter, Lululemon expects net sales to be between $2.34 billion and $2.365 billion, while earnings per share are expected to be between $2.68 and $2.73.
Ashley’s Frasers Group has been embroiled in a public row with fast-fashion retailer Boohoo Group (BOO.L) in recent weeks.
Last week, Frasers published an open letter to Boohoo shareholders entitled: “A simple choice: win with Mike Ashley or lose with Mahmud Kamani.”
As it suggests, the letter called for Kamani to be removed as executive chairman of Boohoo and Ashley appointed as director, along with restructuring expert Mike Lennon. That same morning, Boohoo announced that it had appointed Tim Morris as independent chairman of the company and instead appointed Kamani as executive vice-chairman.
In October, Frasers called on Boohoo to appoint Ashley as CEO, but the request was rejected by the fast-fashion retailer, who opted to appoint Dan Finley as boss.
Frasers, a major investor in Boohoo, has targeted the retailer after a series of weak performances. This has led Boohoo to examine its operations and apply for refinancing.
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Aarin Chiekrie, equities analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “It’s an interesting dynamic, one that will develop over the coming weeks.
Last month, luxury handbag maker Mulberry (MUL.L) rejected a £111 million ($141 million) takeover bid from Frasers Group, calling the offer “untenable”.
Frasers, owner of Sports Direct and House of Fraser, will announce its first half results on Thursday, December 5.
Shares rose in July after Frasers announced its full-year results, in which the company posted an adjusted pre-tax profit of £544.8m, up 13% on fiscal 2023.
For 2025, Frasers Group expects to increase adjusted pre-tax profits to a range of £575 million to £625 million.
“It will be interesting to see if this still stays on track at the halfway point,” Chiekrie said.
“There should also be early insight into how trading has performed in the run-up to the key Christmas period. Frasers, with its high physical exposure, is heavily dependent on shoppers flocking to the high street, so it is more vulnerable than most other businesses. if there is any decline in visitor numbers.”
Shares in the retail group are down 19% this year.
Shares of higher-end homebuilder Berkeley traded near their highest since 2020 in August, but have since fallen and are now down 14% since the start of the year.
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell (AJB.L), and Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst for the platform, said the shares had “slumped on concerns over whether interest rates will stay higher for longer due to inflation and ever-increasing government debt. debt.”
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned last week that the central bank would be forced to cut interest rates at a “gradual” pace as it assesses the impact of policy changes for employers announced in the autumn budget.
Bailey told members of the Treasury committee that several outcomes could result from the announcement to increase employer premium contributions. This includes higher inflation as companies raise prices.
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Higher interest rates mean higher mortgage costs, meaning fewer people can afford to buy a home or move, impacting the real estate market.
Nevertheless, in an update in September, Berkeley said trading had remained steady for the four months of the year. The company said it remained on track to achieve pre-tax profit guidance for the year of £525 million, 90% of which had already been secured through exchanged sales contracts.
Berkeley added that pre-tax profit for the year is expected to be weighted towards the first half and operating margin will therefore be slightly higher than the long-term margin of 17.5% to 19.5% for this period .
As a benchmark for the first half figures, Berkeley recorded a turnover of £1.9 billion, an operating margin of 19.5% and a pre-tax profit of £298 million in the same period last year.
Shares of Foot Locker have been volatile this year, with the stock down 19% this year.
In the second quarter, the US retailer posted a net loss of $12 million, a worsening from the $5 million loss it reported in the same period last year.
This amounted to a loss of $0.13 per share, compared to a loss of $0.05 per share in the second quarter of 2023.
However, Foot Locker said it returned to sales growth in the second quarter with total sales of nearly $19 billion.
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Foot Locker also reaffirmed its outlook for the year, saying it expected sales to be 1% to 1% higher than last year, and earnings per share to be in the range of $1.50 to $1.70.
Mary Dillon, president and CEO of Foot Locker, said the company’s “Lace up” growth plan was working, as evidenced by “positive total and comparable sales growth and gross margin expansion in the second quarter.”
“Through our Lace Up Plan, we are unlocking meaningful opportunities for our business as we leverage our strong brand partnerships, differentiate our retail experiences through innovations and new concept doors, and enhance our customer connections through digital and loyalty,” she said. .
“We also continue to simplify our operations to enable greater focus on our key banners and markets and have taken steps to further streamline our operations in Asia and Europe as we expand our licensing partnerships.”
In the second quarter, Foot Locker opened five new stores and closed 31 locations. This included the closure of stores and e-commerce operations in South Korea, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Monday December 2
Prosus (PRX.AS)
Naspers (NPN.JO)
ZScaler (ZS)
Tuesday December 3
Victrex (VCT.L)
Greencore (GNC.L)
SSP Group (SSPG.L)
On the beach (OTB.L)
Paragon Banking (PAG.L)
DiscoverIE (DSCV.L)
Marvell (MRVL)
Wednesday December 4
Tritax Eurobox (EBOX.L)
Treatt (TET.L)
Hormel Foods (HRL)
Campbell’s Soup (CPB)
Dollar Tree (DLTR)
Tough (CHWY)
Thursday December 5
Future (FUTR.L)
DS Smith (SMDS.L)
Watches from Switzerland (WOSG.L)
SDI (SDI.L)
HP Enterprises (HPE)
Brown-Forman (BF-B)
Dollar General (DG)
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