(Photo Credit: 401(K) 2012)

Philip Morris International (PM):

Consumer Staples - Tobacco | Reports July 20, BMO.

The Estimize consensus calls for EPS of $1.22, one cent lower than the Wall Street consensus and an increase of 6% YoY. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for sales of $6.99B, also lower than Wall Street 7.06B.

The tobacco giant has been on the defensive from the constant barrage of anti-tobacco campaigns and rising taxes. Comparing the environment they operate in and their revenue numbers, we have not seen a large decrease in 2016 nor 2017; rather an upward trend. This trend could be propelled by the switch to smoke-free products or “vapes”. Likewise, the falling number of people smoking traditional cigarettes in the United States, is being replaced with the smoke-free products, and people in underdeveloped countries. If the FDA approves and labels their smoke-free products as lower-risk, it can send a clear message to prospective consumers.  

Visa, Inc. (V):

Information Technology - IT Services | Reports July 20, AMC.

The Estimize consensus calls for EPS of $0.84, 3 cents higher than Wall Street consensus and a gain of 22% YoY. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for sales of $4.20B also higher than Wall Street’s $4.36B.  

Visa has been looking bulletproof as of late with its seamless integration of Visa Europe and  the fact that it operates in a four-party open loop credit system. This means that Visa simply facilitates the transactions rather than taking on the debt, which is definitely a plus in protecting against defaults. Estimize is also predicting that Gross Dollar Volume will increase to $2.556T which is a 33% increase YoY and also an increase in Processed Transactions to $27.583B or a 39% increase YoY.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT):

Information Technology - Software | Reports July 20, AMC.

The Estimize consensus calls for EPS of $0.74, three cents higher than the Wall Street consensus and an increase of 7% YoY. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for sales of $24.28B which is roughly in line with the street.

Microsoft’s personal computing segment has not been proving strong as of recent, and the June quarter had the lowest level of PC sales since 2007. However, Microsoft has grown from depending on personal computer sales with the acquisition of LinkedIn and their growing Cloud services. Their cloud service Azure, has begun producing positive revenue, and their commercial cloud segment has been growing at a rapid rate. Also, Microsoft came out saying that 80% of Azure users are paying for their premium service. Estimize is predicting that Gross Margins will come in at 62.94%

eBay (EBAY):

Information Technology - Internet Software & Services | Reports July 20, AMC.

The Estimize consensus calls for EPS of $0.46, one cent higher than Wall Street consensus and an increase of 7% YoY. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for sales of $2.31B which is roughly in line with the street.

eBay has been trying to restructure their operations lately by enhancing their mobile platform, improving social media campaigns, and the recent acquisition of Flipkart which helps with international penetration. Furthermore, their most recent quarter reassured investors with the addition of 2 million active users. These reassurances may not be enough to deal with the large cloud of Amazon and other e-commerce giants looming overhead. Visit the Estimize site to see our prediction for Gross Merchandise Volume.