Yahoo Finance Trending tickers: Microsoft, Alphabet, Anglo American, IBM, Astrazeneca, Unilever and Sainsbury's
The latest investor updates on stocks that are trending on Thursday
Microsoft (MSFT)
Microsoft is due to report March quarter earnings after the close of US trading this Thursday, with its stake in AI and cloud computing market of particular interest to investors.
In its prior quarter, Microsoft announced that its AI capabilities contributed 6 percentage points of growth to the company’s Azure revenue, up from 3% in the previous period, and analysts are looking for more.
Consensus expectations among analysts tracked by FactSet are for revenue of $60.9bn (£46.33bn), with a profit of $2.82 a share.
In the same period last year, Microsoft reported EPS of $2.45 on revenue of $52.86bn.
In terms of business segments, Wall Street anticipates Microsoft will report productivity and business processes revenue of $19.54bn, intelligent cloud revenue of $26.25bn, and more personal computing revenue of $15.07bn.
Alphabet (GOOGL)
The Google parent company is also reporting earnings after Thursday’s closing bell, with analysts forecasting a rebound in ad spending.
Analysts polled by FactSet are expecting Alphabet to report earnings of $1.51 a share on revenue of $78.75bn.
The expected year-on-year growth in revenue is expected to be driven by improvements in Google advertising, led by Search and YouTube. Also, strong growth in subscriptions is expected to support its overall revenue.
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The company’s cloud services – a major growth driver – is expected to report a 25% increase in revenues for Q1 as the tech giant executes its artificial intelligence strategy.
Investors will be watching Alphabet’s guidance and whether it is and can continue to execute on advances in AI strategy.
Anglo American (AAL.L)
Miner Anglo American (AAL.L) which saw its shares soar after a buyout offer from BHP Group (BHP.L).
The stock climbed to a nine-month high after BHP said it made an offer to buy the London-listed miner, valuing its share capital at £31.1bn. The deal would create the world’s biggest copper miner with around 10% of global output.
The proposal is conditional on Anglo first splitting off its South African platinum and iron ore units, suggesting BHP is primarily interested in Anglo’s copper resources.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The buyout offer from BHP, the world’s largest publicly listed miner, for Anglo American, won’t just shake up the mining industry, but will send a fresh chill through the City of London.
"There are concerns that if the deal goes through it could be the tip of the iceberg and more giants could leave the exchange.
"It comes hot on the heels of speculation that Shell might up sticks and leave for New York, rumours that Ocado may be considering leaving for the Big Apple, and follows the crushing disappointment of home-grown chip designer Arm choosing the Nasdaq over the FTSE 100."
IBM (IBM)
IBM shares slipped as much as 8% in premarket trading after the hardware and software provider reported first-quarter revenue that was lower than analysts had predicted.
IBM also announced it will buy HashiCorp in a deal valued at $6.4bn, in a move to expand its cloud-based software products and tap into the AI-powered boom.
First-quarter sales gained 1% to $14.46bn, the Armonk, New York-based company said, below expectations of $14.55bn. This marks the company’s third revenue miss in the last five quarters.
IBM also reiterated its previous outlook of $12bn in free cash flow for the fiscal year ending in December.
“We saw both a lengthening of backlog duration driven by large scale digital transformations and a reduced level of revenue realization in the quarter as clients tighten discretionary spending,” Jim Kavanaugh, IBM’s finance chief, said.
Astrazeneca (AZN.L)
AstraZeneca shares are higher after the drugmaker reported quarterly revenue and profit above market estimates buoyed by resilient demand for its oncology and rare blood disorder drugs.
Oncology, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker's top business, delivered a 26% jump in first-quarter sales to $5.12bn.
Earnings per share excluding some items rose 7% to $2.06 in the first quarter. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected $1.89 on average.
Notable developments in the quarter included positive trial results for Imfinzi and Tagrisso in lung cancer, and several US and EU approvals for other drugs.
AstraZeneca reiterated its full-year guidance of low double-digit to low teens percentage growth in both total revenues and EPS.
The group said the total dividend for the year will increase by $0.20 per share to $3.10.
Unilever (ULVR.L)
Unilever maintained its full-year guidance after a solid first quarter, which saw all five business divisions contributing to underlying sales growth.
The consumer goods giant, which owns Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum, grew underlying sales growth by 4.4% in the first quarter of the year. Its ice cream business grew 2.3%.
Shares jumped 5% as it said it expects sales to grow between 3% and 5% this year.
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Turnover was up 1.4% at €15bn in the first three months of the year, with strong growth in the Beauty & Wellbeing (7.4%) and Personal Care (4.8%) making up for a weaker performance in Home Care (3.1%), Nutrition (3.7%) and Ice Cream (2.3%).
"We are implementing the Growth Action Plan at speed, focused on three clear priorities: delivering higher-quality growth, creating a simpler and more productive business, and embedding a strong performance focus," said chief executive Hein Schumacher.
"This is underpinned by our commitment to do fewer things, better and with greater impact."
Sainsbury's (SBRY.L)
Sainsbury's has reported strong food sales after spending heavily on keeping prices low to attract customers.
The UK's second largest supermarket expects to make a profit of more than £1bn this year as more customers take out its Nectar card scheme and inflation eases.
Sainsbury's announced a 1.6% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £701m for the year to March 2.
On a statutory basis, pre-tax profits slumped 15.3% to £277m as it restructured its financial services arm and took a hit from not fully passing on interest rate rises to customers.
While Sainsbury's food business performed well, its general merchandise sales – which include its Argos business – slipped 0.5% and clothing sales fell 6.4%.
The group said: “We are confident of delivering strong profit growth in the year ahead.
“We expect to continue to grow grocery volumes ahead of the market, driving profit leverage.”
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