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This earnings season, investors have been especially sensitive to the predictions of corporate executives. While they pay attention to whether a company has beaten or missed consensus estimates for sales or earnings, the key scorecard is how a company’s predictions for performance over coming quarters stack up against what Wall Street analysts had previous predicted.
Facebook parent Meta Platforms
FB,
was one example earlier this month. This week’s examples of disappointing outlooks include Roku
ROKU,
and Shopify
SHOP,
; both stocks plunged by more than 25% in the aftermath.
Here’s a look at where Shopify ranks among 15 e-commerce companies that are expected to grow sales the most through 2023.
Related: Inflation, tension in Ukraine and other factors put margin relief hopes at risk
Nvidia follows the pattern
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Wallace Witkowski broke down what could only be called an amazing set of financial results for Nvidia
NVDA,
The company’s outlook for the next quarter is for higher sales than analysts had previously expected. Yet the stock declined 8% in the trading session after those results.
It’s time for a deeper look at Nvidia:
You’ve planned it all out, but what if you run out of money when you’re retired?
Alessandra Malito writes the Help Me Retire column. This week, a retired couple is using a combination of income sources to pay for their housing in a community with progressive care. A fear is running out of money if a higher level of care is required for many years. Here’s how they might work through that scenario.
You took Social Security at 62 and regret the decision — now what?
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The longer you wait until age 70 to begin receiving Social Security benefits, the higher those payments will be. It’s easy to recommend waiting as long as possible, but there are many reasons people might decide to take them as early as age 62 or be forced to do so.
What if you take Social Security early and later on determine you made a mistake or otherwise decide to go back to work? Jim Blankenship shares some math while taking a deeper look at how Social Security works, and the results are very encouraging.
The hidden financial risks of swapping homes
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Jacob Passy writes The Big Move column and this week helps a woman who with her husband is thinking of swapping homes with their in-laws who have a larger home and wish to downsize. Here are the tax-related problems they will need to avoid.
More housing coverage:
- ‘The housing market is set for a sustained softening’: New-home construction falters, even as builders secure more permits
- Existing-home sales defy expectations, rising higher to kick off 2022
Value stocks
During the long bull market, holding shares of rapidly growing companies trading at high valuations to earnings was a winning strategy. Now, with inflation at its highest level in decades and with a cycle of interest-rate increases expected from the Federal Reserve, value-oriented strategies are gaining popularity.
Mark Hulbert shares new research into how well value strategies have served investors over the long term — the results may surprise you.
More from Hulbert:
More on value stocks: 10 tech value stocks that at least 75% of analysts rate as a ‘buy’ right now
Stocks for a tech rebound
Part of the stock market’s shift from growth strategies to value this year has reflected a sharp decline in tech stock prices. The S&P 500 information technology sector has fallen 13% this year.
Jeff Reeves lists five technology stocks, including some off the beaten path, that he believes are primed to lead a tech sector recovery.
The dirty secret when investing in line with your values
Investing strategies that take ESG (environmental, social and governance) considerations into account continue to gain in popularity. But life isn’t simple — a blind look at ESG ratings may not be your best way forward, as Debbie Carlson explains.
More on ESG:
Ukraine — what if…
A protest in Kyiv, Ukraine on Feb. 12.
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The jittery stock-market environment reflects investors’ fear of a catastrophic war if Russia invades Ukraine. Signals are mixed every day. Here’s how the movements of Russian military units on the Ukraine border are being monitored by satellite.
More on the outlook for Ukraine and Russia and possible market reactions:
Corporate virtue-signaling and hypocrisy
MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty Images, Twitter
Companies love to tout their support for good causes. For example, more than a hundred signed a letter supporting federal voting-rights legislation, but many of these same companies donated money to members of Congress who blocked the bill, as Ciara Linnane reports.
More fun than streaming Netflix or Disney+?
Landing at Heathrow
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Hundreds of thousands of people have been watching pilots attempt to land planes at Heathrow Airport in very heavy winds.
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