Nvidia, Walmart, Imperial Brands, JD Sports and Royal Mail

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Markets forecasts expect that number to be a little higher. If NVIDIA continues its strong run of beating market expectations, things could be better still.”

“There’s likely to be more emphasis however on the outlook for the final three months of the year, where consensus is currently looking for revenue of $36.6bn.”

In the second quarter, revenue came in at $30bn, which was 122% higher than the previous year. Nvidia posted earnings per diluted share of $0.67, which was up 168% on the previous year.

“Any steer as to how well the recently launched ultra-fast Blackwell chip is selling will also be closely scrutinised,” Nathan said.

“There’s no shortage of demand as the likes of Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN) look to gain an edge in the AI race. But there remain some unanswered questions about Nvidia’s supply chain’s ability to keep pace.”

Wall Street will keeping an eye on retailer Walmart’s latest results to see if it reports another solid quarter, as consumer price pressures persist.

Latest data showed consumer prices grew by 2.6% in October, which was a slight uptick for the 2.4% rate of inflation recorded in September.

The figure was still above the US Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target but was in line with with expectations, sustaining investor hopes that the central bank will potentially cut interest rates again in December.

However, there are concerns that potential policies around trade tariffs from president-elect Donald Trump, after he returns to the White House in January, could drive inflation higher.

As the world’s largest retailer by sales, Walmart’s results can provide an insight into US consumer sentiment.

Read more: UK growth slows between July and September as services sector falters

In the second quarter, Walmart (WMT) logged revenue growth of 4.8% of $169.34bn, beating estimates of $168.46bn.

Adjusted earnings per share of $0.67 also beat expectations of $0.65 and marked a 9.8% increase year-on-year.

This strong performance contributed to a 61% rise in Walmart shares year-to-date.

CEO Doug McMillon said: “Each part of our business is growing – store and club sales are up, e-commerce is compounding as we layer on pickup and even faster growth in delivery as our speed improves.”

For the third quarter, Walmart guided to an increase of 3.25% to 4.25% in consolidated net sales, compared with the same period last year when it delivered $159.4bn in net sales.

Walmart said it was expecting consolidated operating income to rise between 3% and 4.5% in the third quarter, up from $6.2bn last year.

The company expected adjusted earnings per share to come in at $0.51 to $0.52, compared with $0.51 for the third quarter last year.

Shares in tobacco giant Imperial Brands (IMB.L) are currently trading at a five-year high, with the stock up 31% year-to-date.

That’s despite the higher duties on cigarettes and vapes announced in the recent UK autumn budget.

“These moves add to a long list of regulatory and tax measures designed to deter consumers from smoking, after interventions on advertising and packaging design,” said AJ Bell’s Russ Mould, Danni Hewson and Dan Coatsworth.

Even so, the investment experts said that Imperial Brands continues to see strong profits and cash generation, much of which could be attributed to the five-year plan set out by CEO Stefan Bomhard, who took the reins in 2020.

In its full year results last year, Imperial Brands posted a 7.1% decline in tobacco volumes (excluding Russia), but the company raised its prices by an average of 11%. Sales in its next generation product segment rose 26%.

Read more: Rachel Reeves hints at looser regulation in bid to improve UK’s competitiveness

“Imperial will be looking to a similar recipe in the year to September 2024, for which chief executive Stefan Bomhard gave clear guidance alongside the full-year results for 2023 back in November,” said Mould, Hewson and Coatsworth.

In its half-year results, Imperial Brands said it expected to deliver revenue growth in the low-single digits on a constant currency basis for its tobacco and next generation products segments.

The company forecast that adjusted operating profit would grow by close to the middle of its mid-single digit range.

On the back of this guidance, AJ Bell’s investment experts said that analysts were expecting group adjusted operating profit of £3.9bn, which would be flat on the previous year.

Analysts were also said to be expecting adjusted earnings per share of £2.95, up from £2.79 last year.

In terms of its dividend, Imperial Brands has produced three consecutive increases in the payout, with analysts said to be looking for another advance to £1.53 per share in this set of results. The company also recently announced a further share buyback of £1.25bn, which it is set to complete by the end of October 2025.

Sportswear retailer JD Sports (JD.L) had a tougher start to its fiscal year but Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that the situation has since picked up for the business. However, shares in the company are still down nearly 29% year-to-date.

In its interim results, JD Sports logged 5% growth in revenue to £5.03bn, while profit before tax and adjusting items was up 2% to £405.6m.

“It was pleasing to see Europe, North America and Asia Pacific markets all posting double-digit sales growth,” said Chiekrie. “But the UK market remains challenging and volatile, and full-year profit guidance got a small downgrade as a result.”

He said that JD Sports was trying to offset these challenges by “tightening its belt and streamlining operations”.

Read more: December UK interest rate cut unlikely despite GDP slowdown

“Investors will be hoping that means there won’t be further downgrades to the full-year outlook in next week’s results,” he said.

Chiekrie said that investors would also be wanting to see how its takeover of US sporting goods supplier Hibbett is progressing, having completed the acquisition in July.

“The deal has substantially increased the group’s footprint in the US, but there’s a lot of work to do to make sure a deal of this size pulls in the expected benefits,” he said.

In terms of its UK business, Andy Higginson, who is both chair of JD Sports and the British Retail Consortium, recently warned that tax rises on businesses announced in the autumn budget would result in prices to rise for shoppers.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the budget that employers would have to pay 15% in national insurance on salaries over £5,000, rising from the current rate of 13.8% on salaries over £9,100.

“I’m guaranteeing you today, if these go through as they are without any sort of feathering, we’re going to see significant inflation in prices,” Higginson said on the BBC’s Today programme.

The focus for investors in Royal Mail-owner International Distribution Services will be on the takeover of the company led by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

IDS agreed to the £3.57bn takeover offer back in May, with the offer made through a special purpose vehicle, EP UK Bidco Limited, owned by J&T Capital Partners and EP Corporate Group. Kretinsky is the majority owner of EP Corporate Group.

Keith Williams, the chair of IDS, said that the company’s board had negotiated a “far reaching package of legally binding undertakings and commitments which provide our customers, employees and broader stakeholders with important safeguards.”

Read more: What does the launch of pension megafunds mean for investors?

Meanwhile, Kretinsky said: “The EP Group has the utmost respect for Royal Mail’s history and tradition, and I know that owning this business will come with enormous responsibility – not just to the employees but to the citizens who rely on its services every day.”

In terms of its company performance, IDS said that total parcels volumes were up 11% in its first quarter. Meanwhile, revenue across the IDS group had risen 8% to £3.2bn.

In September, regulator Ofcom said it was considering changes to the UK postal service for Royal Mail. This included the potential scrapping of second class letter deliveries on Saturdays.

However, a decision had not yet been made, with Ofcom saying it expected to consult on proposals for reform in early 2025, with a view to announcing a decision in summer 2025.

IDS reportedly said that the “change cannot come soon enough” to the UK postal service.

Monday 18 November

Big Yellow (BYG.L)

Sirius Real Estate (SRE.L)

Tuesday 19 November

Diploma (DPLM.L)

Avon Protection (AVNBF)

CML Microsystems (CML.L)

Revolution Beauty (REVB.L)

GB Group (GBG.L)

Gear4Music (G4M.L)

Xiaomi (1810.HK)

Sonova (SONVY)

ThyssenKrupp (TKA.DE)

Lowe’s (LOW)

Medtronic (MDT)

Dollar Tree (DLTR)

Amer Sports (AS)

Dolby Laboratories (DLB)

Wednesday 20 November

Sage (SGE.L)

Mitchells & Butlers (MAB.L)

Tracsis (TRCS.L)

Rotork (ROR.L)

Softcat (SCT.L)

Baloise (BALN.SW)

Soitec (SLOIF)

Palo Alto Networks (PANW)

Target (TGT)

Snowflake (SNOW)

Nio (NIO)

Thursday 21 November

Britvic (BVIC.L)

Grainger (GRI.L)

Jet2 (JET2.L)

Mitie (MTO.L)

Speedy Hire (SDY.L)

Norcros (NXR.L)

Warehouse REIT (WHR.L)

Crest Nicholson (CRST.L)

Breedon (BREE.L)

Baidu (BIDU)

Intuit (INTU)

PDD (PDD)

Warner Music (WMG)

Gap (GAP)

Friday 22 November

Workspace (WKP.L)

Meituan (3690.HK)

Cathay Pacific Airways (CPCAF)

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