Kiplinger’s Weekly Earnings Calendar (7/20-7/24): AAL, MSFT, TSLA

Below is a weekly earnings calendar of the most important upcoming quarterly reports schedule to be released by publicly traded companies. There are also earnings previews for select companies. Please check back often. This earnings calendar is updated weekly.

(Editor’s Note: Many earnings dates are tentative but may be moved due to coronavirus-related concerns. However, companies featured in “Earnings Spotlights” have officially announced their earnings dates.)

Earnings Calendar Highlights

MONDAY

Noteworthy Earnings Reports

TUESDAY

Noteworthy Earnings Reports

WEDNESDAY

Earnings Spotlight: Microsoft

Microsoft (MSFT, $208.04) has certainly made the most of a bad situation, rising nearly 50% since the start of the year against a roughly flat market. The COVID outbreak has been difficult for many companies, but back in April, Microsoft said it had a “minimal” impact on its business, and analysts are broadly forecasting good things for its fiscal fourth-quarter results, due out after the July 22 close.

“We expect Microsoft to report solid F4Q results … with the ongoing needs of the remote economy driving healthy demand for Azure and Microsoft Teams (though with limited near-term monetization),” write Credit Suisse analysts, who rate MSFT at Outperform (equivalent of Buy) with a $225 price target. “We believe FY21 commentary and guidance will likely be the key focus of the event.”

Specifically, the analysts point out that Microsoft typically introduces preliminary full-year guidance during third-quarter earnings, then follows up “more formally” in Q4. But the lack of preliminary guidance this year “suggests the company may only make nuanced comments around FY21 revenue, or instead choose only to guide near-term (skipping FY guidance altogether).”

Wedbush (Outperform, $260 price target) writes, “We have seen relatively strong cloud deal activity around Azure in the field during the June quarter, as this current work from home environment is further catalyzing more enterprises to make the strategic cloud shift with Microsoft across the board.”

On average, Wall Street’s pros are looking for an 8.2% increase in revenues to $36.49 billion, and a marginal improvement in profits to $1.38 per share.

Earnings Spotlight: Tesla

Tesla (TSLA, $1,546.01) has been one of the momentum darlings of the year, surging nearly 270% just a little past the year’s midway point. At nearly $280 billion in market cap, it’s worth more than any other automaker on the planet – including even Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen (VLKAY).

Of course, the problem for new money is figuring out just where the company can possibly go from here.

Piper Sandler, for instance, has an Overweight rating with a $2,322 price target that it defended in a glowing note to clients on July 13.

“It’s hard to see how competitors can catch up; Tesla’s own capacity is the biggest constraint to share gains,” Piper analysts wrote. They say the company’s original 2020 delivery guidance of more than 500,000 units “might still be in play,” and they say that software, not the cars themselves, “is the biggest driver of our increased DCF-based price target … Tesla has noted the possibility for 30%+ gross margins if/when more customers opt-in for purchasing the company’s full self-driving (FSD) software.”

Citi, however, which sees the stock as a Sell, did upgrade its price target of late … but from $246 per share to $450, which would be a 70%-plus decline from current levels.

“What hasn’t changed, in our view, is the lack of evidence to support the recent narrative in the stock-namely that Tesla is already experiencing seemingly ‘unlimited’ demand that’s decoupled from autos, that traditional & emerging competitors stand little chance, that FSD/AV is industry leading and that Tesla should be valued vs. large Tech names,” Citi’s Itay Michaeli wrote in a recent note. “It’s tough to fight the momentum, but it’s even tougher to construct a fundamental risk/reward framework that makes sense here.”

Tesla’s expected quarterly results for the quarter to be reported after the July 22 close aren’t anything to scream about: Wall Street sees a 19% year-over-year decline in revenues, but a 36.6% thinner net loss to 71 cents per share.

Other Noteworthy Reports

THURSDAY

Earnings Spotlight: American Airlines

Story continues