Seven S&P 500 names beat on EPS this week; Micron gets Street cred for its AI prospects

As the earnings season winds up, here is a recap of a few big names that reported this week. On Wednesday afterhours, Micron (MU) posted such impressive results and guidance that Wall Street declared the Boise, Idaho-based memory maker as the next big beneficiary from AI. Its shares surged as much as 18% the next day touching highs not seen since the beginning of the millennium.

On Thursday afterhours, Sportswear retailer Nike (NKE) reported solid Q3 earnings, with margins and EPS topping consensus. Lululemon Athletica (LULU) also posted top and bottom line beats.

Looking forward, Nike warned of a short-term revenue dip as the company shifted its focus to innovation. On the other hand, Lululemon’s revenue and profit guidance warning was even more stark. Both athletic apparel giants warned on sluggish demand trends in certain categories.

FedEx (FDX) on Thursday posted an EPS beat helped by cost savings in its Express business and improved FQ3 margins.

For the week ending March 22, Eight S&P 500 companies reported results, of which 7 reported EPS beats, while only 1 had their EPS in-line.

General Mills (GIS), Micron (MU), Nike (NKE), Accenture (ACN), FedEx (FDX), Lululemon Athletica (LULU), and FactSet (FDS) reported an EPS beat this week. Only Darden Restaurants (DRI) had their EPS in-line.

Of the 495 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date, 73.1% reported EPS above analyst expectations, while 22.6% missed consensus. 66.7% reported a revenue beat while 33.3% reported a top line miss.

For the upcoming week, five S&P 500 names are scheduled to report results, with names like Carnival (CCL) expected on Wednesday and Walgreens (WBA) on Thursday. CCL has a record of five EPS beats over the last eight quarters while WBA has beaten EPS seven times over the same period.

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