(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.