Best Buy, Dollar Tree, Dollar General earnings and Q2 GDP - What to know in markets Thursday

Scott Gamm
·Reporter
Updated

Markets await a host of key consumer indicators, including earnings reports from retailers like Best Buy (BBY) and updated second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures.

For Best Buy, Wall Street is expecting earnings per share of 99 cents on sales of $9.56 billion. In the same quarter a year ago, Best Buy posted earnings of 91 cents per share on revenue of $9.38 billion. Analysts also await Best Buy’s quarterly comparable store sales figures, which tracks sales at stores open for at least one year. In Best Buy’s prior quarter, comparable store sales rose 1.1%. Meanwhile, U.S. comparable online sales stood at $1.31 billion, an increase of 14.5%. As of Wednesday's close, Best Buy shares are up roughly 30% so far this year, eclipsing the S&P 500’s (^GSPC) 15% gain during that time.

Other retailers, including Dollar Tree (DLTR), Dollar General (DG), Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Burlington Stores (BURL) and Ulta Beauty (ULTA), release quarterly financial results on Thursday.

Retail earnings have been taking on extra importance for the broader market in recent months as the consumer continues to drive the economy amid a slowdown in other areas, such as manufacturing.

People wait in line to shop at Best Buy during a sales event on Thanksgiving day in Westbury, New York, U.S., November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
People wait in line to shop at Best Buy during a sales event on Thanksgiving day in Westbury, New York, U.S., November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Economic data

At 8:30 a.m. ET, Wall Street awaits the second estimate for second-quarter GDP, which is expected to grow by 2%. That would mark a slight decline from the 2.1% second-quarter print posted in late July.

Also included in the report is an updated reading on personal consumption expenditures, which rose 4.3% year-over-year during the second quarter as of the earlier reading released in late July.

Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims are also released at 8:30 a.m. Wall Street is expecting claims to stand at 213,000, representing a slight week-over-week increase.

At 10 a.m., the pending home sales index for July is released by the National Association of Realtors. The index, which tracks homes under contract, rose 2.8% in June to 108.3, but Wall Street is expecting a 0.3% month-over-month decline in July.

Scott Gamm is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @ScottGamm.

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