Booking, Home Depot, and Moderna Set to Release Q4 Earnings

This week is gearing up to be an interesting one for traders as firms from different industries are set to release their Q4 2021 results. Booking, Home Depot, and Moderna are just a few of the companies expected to publish their fourth-quarter earnings in the coming days.

Did Booking Book More?

The travel industry has been one of those most deleteriously affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and Booking Holdings (BKNG) has been no exception. The Connecticut-based travel services provider will reveal how it fared over the last quarter of 2021 on Wednesday after the market closes.

Some analysts are saying that the spread of Omicron late last year may be reflected in Booking’s Q4 data. The firm’s stock price got hit hard as 2021 came to a close; from the second week of November until New Year’s Eve, Booking’s share value dropped by over 9%, despite a rise in the holiday season.

However, many market watchers estimate that Booking’s final Q4 results could contain positive notes, due to a few key factors. Despite continuing COVID-19 infections across the globe, air passengers seem to have been losing the reluctance to fly observed earlier in the course of the pandemic. 

Booking has also thrown its weight behind initiatives to increase its market share in the travel services sector. Whether efforts to increase the firm’s brand recognition, as well as investments in Booking’s proprietary mobile application, have paid off, may be reflected in Wednesday’s numbers release. Furthermore, Booking continued expanding throughout the last fiscal period of 2021, acquiring B2B hotel rooms distributor, Getaroom, and inking a deal for the acquisition of ETraveli Group in December and November respectively.

The Zack’s estimate is that Booking will post Q4 revenue of $2.9 billion, more than double 2020’s fourth-quarter figure. The consensus expectation for earnings per share (EPS) is $12.73, a sharp rise from Q4 2020’s 57 cent loss per share.

Home Depot Slows Down

American retail giant Home Depot (HD) is expected to release its Q4 2021 results tomorrow before the market opens. The venerable firm’s bottom line may have been pulled down by a slowing housing market in the United States as well as the continuing challenge posed by runaway inflation.

Companies in the DYI and home-improvement sectors, like Home Depot and Lowe’s (LOW), were favoured by the economic forces of the coronavirus pandemic as millions across the country were forced to stay at home. However, the tides seem to have turned, and Home Depot’s share price has dropped by 15% since the beginning of 2022.

Despite these headwinds, Tuesday’s report could help turn Home Depot’s share price ship around. The firm posted a strong rise of 28% in stock value over the final three months of 2021. Home sales may be hit by an expected hike in interest rates instituted by the Fed, but some analysts expect that Home Depot’s December numbers will still have been boosted by strong turnover on the housing market.

The consensus estimate for Home Depot’s EPS is $3.18, and revenue is expected to come in at nearly $34.9 billion, a year-over-year rise of 8%. Therefore, though the market expectation is that Tuesday’s report could be encouraging for investors, the jury is still out on whether Home Depot will be able to regain some of the ground lost since the beginning of 2022.

Will Moderna Shares Get a Shot in the Arm?

Many biotech firms have become household names since the coronavirus pandemic first began, and one of these, Moderna, is set to release its Q4 2021 data on Thursday before the market opens.

Moderna (MRNA) was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the COVID-era economy, with its share price hitting an all-time high in August 2021 of $486. However, its stock has dropped by just under 70% since then, as investors may have gotten over the initial excitement sparked by mRNA vaccine technology. Furthermore, vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer (PFE) have also been shown to be less effective against the Omicron variant, taking some of the shine off of these biotech giants’ primary products.

Despite Moderna’s latest travails, some analysts are reluctant to pull the firm’s title of ‘Tesla (TSLA) of biotech.’ Although the company’s share price has been on the decline, continuing technological innovation may continue to draw investors. Moderna is reportedly developing a dual COVID and influenza vaccine, as well as leveraging its mRNA technological gains to formulate new methods of treating cystic fibrosis and cancer.

The Zacks estimate for Moderna’s fourth-quarter 2021 EPS is $9.83, a figure that represents year-over-year growth of over 1,500%. The firm is expected to post Q4 revenue of over $6.7 billion, also a four-digit percentage rise from last year’s fourth-quarter data.

Moderna’s share price may be on a downward slope, but its business fundamentals seem to be going strong. Thursday’s earnings call could not only give investors and traders alike a better sense of where the biotech pioneer stands currently, but also how its business strategy is set to grow and change in the future. 

These three firms each represent different market sectors that have faced disparate challenges and reaped diverse benefits from the state of the economy as last year came to a close. Savvy traders may also wish to follow earnings reports from eBay (EBAY), Lowe’s, and Macy’s (M), that will also hit the market this week. It remains to be seen how the markets react to these companies’ Q4 results.