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Let's take a look now, add some stocks making news in the week ahead. I'm Nathan Hager here with Bloomberg Equities reporter Avalon Parnell, head of a few pretty interesting earning stories in the coming week. We're going to hear from Carnival Cruise Lines on Tuesday. It's going to be really interesting to hear from them, especially with so many of the headlines around the Middle East driving cruise stocks over the last several months.
Avalon absolutely, I mean, the potential end of the Iran war and fuel costs will definitely be top of mind for investors as Carnival heads into its second quarter earnings on Tuesday. Carnival shares have been on a roller coaster ride alongside other travel and cruise names, to say the least, since the war started in February. But now with the US and Iran saying that they've reached an interim agreement to reopen the street up for moves, sentiment is again
rising in this hard hit sector. Worth mentioning that Wall Street still remains cautiously optimistic about the stock. Schiefel may have put it best at analysts, saying that trading cruise stocks is beyond difficult because you're trading your view of whether the Middle East war will end or not. But they remain buyers of Carnival into their earnings because they believe the company hasn't witnessed any deterioration in customer spending.
Bloomberg Intelligence highlighting that investors will look for insight on booking since March, when Carnival reported that eighty five percent of capacity had been sold.
Well, like you said, the stock has kind of been all over the map since the start of the year. What are we expecting from the options market when it comes to how the stock could trade off the back of earnings.
Yes, option data that we are seeing at the moment is currently implying about a six percent move after those results.
Okay, so we'll be keeping an eye on Carnival Cruise line on Tuesday along with FedEx. Obviously a pretty strong bell weather for the economy as a whole. But I mean, this stock has been through quite a few changes lately. So how's that affecting investor sentiment.
Yes, I mean FedEx, to say the least, we'll be entering a new era when it reports fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday, Justice month, FedEx completed the spin off of its freight division, and it will also be the first earnings call for Claude Russ, who became interim CFO after John Dietrich surprise investors by announcing that he was stepping down at the start of this month. Investors expect FedEx to continue executing despite inflationary pressures and rising fuel costs
tied to that war in Iran. Barclay's analysts are expecting solid retail performance and also industrial expansion this quarter given strong macro transportation indicators, though it is worth noting that Bloomberg Intelligence highlighting with the spinoff in the rear view mirror, FedEx can potentially begin to focus on its longer term financial targets, like pushing its higher margin businesses and also improving European results to lift earnings above its twenty twenty nine target.
And yeah, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. But I mean, this stock in particular has been on a pretty solid run since even before the start of the year. When you have the FedEx Freight business in the rear view, how is that expected to affect the performance going forward?
Well, going forward, they're hoping that this will allow FedEx to hone in on the really quality areas of its business and help to expand margin. And also worth noting that options data at the moment is currently implying a nearly seven percent move after those results, although we will also hear from that spinoff later that week as well, so we'll see how the two go head to head.
Oh wow, So even more reason to keep an eye on FedEx and FedEx Freight. Not only that, on Thursday, we're going to hear from Darden Restaurants. I mean, every time I think about Darden, I think about all of Garden, but I mean I'm always surprised by how many restaurants are under the Darden umbrella, not just for casual dining, but fine dining as well.
Yeah, you're absolutely right. Darden is the parent company behind popular chains like Rufe, Chris Longhorn Steakhouse, and my dad's personal favorite Cheddar Scratch Kitchen. But nice, we will be gaining some more visibility on the American consumer Thursday, when Darden reports for quarter earnings, Worth noting that they do continue to outperform the S and P five hundred consumer discretionary sector and investors are expecting the print to keep
that trend going. City Analysts writing that they expect another solid quarter marked by comparative growth continuing to outpaced industry. Raymond Jane's expecting a strong fourth quarter, noting that solid casual dining segment trends in recent months, and also worth noting that options data at the moment is currently implying about a four percent move after those results.
Okay, so maybe a little bit of a pop there, But you have to wonder, when you know, there's so much talk about a K shaped economy, whether consumers are thinking about pulling back some on some of the more discretionary sides of the economy, whether a company like Darden could see a hit from something like that if people are thinking, well, you know, maybe I would rather stay at home and cook for myself rather than go out for a nice meal for a change.
Absolutely, and I mean it's also not just that we're also thinking about the impact of GLP ones on various restaurants, obviously fast dining fast food is going to be very impacted by GLP ones, especially as they continue to grow
in popularity in the US. But for companies like a Darden restaurants, analysts have said they're really looking for some of these chains to launch more smaller plates, more chicken options for customers who are looking for a healthier option on the menu and are really conscious about protein, and so that will also be something to be interesting to keep an eye on.
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