Our regular look at the FTSE 350 and other companies reporting from 03 – 07 February.
- With lofty expectations, Palantir needs to deliver knockout results
- Search remains the crown jewel at Alphabet
- High-teens growth expected for AstraZeneca
- Disney looking for a fairytale start to 2025
Palantir, Q4 Results, Monday 3 February
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown: Palantir has become a standout in the AI revolution, capturing attention with its innovative data-driven products and a CEO who knows how to tell a compelling story. While its growth potential is exciting, the key question is whether it can deliver earnings fast enough to justify its steep valuation – around 150 times next year’s expected earnings. This sets high stakes for next week’s fourth quarter results, where nothing shy of perfect execution will be tolerated.
Markets expect a 28% rise in revenue and a 45% jump in underlying operating income, driven by growth in government and commercial contracts. A spotlight will be on Palantir’s AI platform, with investors eager to see how it’s driving enterprise adoption and converting pilot programs into full-scale deals.
Alphabet, Q4 Results, 4 February
Matt Britzman: Having arrived fashionably late to the AI party, Alphabet is now making a splash. AI-powered overviews in Google search are starting to show their value, and investors will be laser-focused on ad revenue, still the core growth driver with a 9.5% uplift expected from next week’s fourth-quarter results. Despite the cloud business stealing some headlines, search remains Alphabet’s crown jewel. Google is still the best search brand on the planet, the key is nailing AI integration to keep the dollars flowing and the dominance intact.
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- What we learned from last week’s Big Tech earnings marathon
Meanwhile, Alphabet’s cloud business impressed with 35% growth last quarter, outpacing Amazon and Microsoft – though from a smaller base. Elevated investment is expected to continue, but efficiency gains have so far kept profits buoyant. Sustaining this balancing act will be a critical storyline next week.
Advanced Micro Devices, Q4 Results, 4 February
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown: AMD offers a comprehensive range of microprocessors and graphics cards and has been considered to be one of the few players with the technology capable of powering the latest advances in artificial intelligence. However, the arrival of new kid on the block, DeepSeek, the Chinese startup which has used low-cost chips to power its large language model, has put the cat among the pigeons and caused big jitters on Wall Street. So, investors are likely to be more sensitive to AMD’s results this time around, concerned that demand for its chips may wane.
Growth in revenue was already expected to slow, with estimates for the fourth quarter between $7.2 billion and $7.8 billion. That would present growth of 22%. This is still not to be sniffed at, but a miss may be punished more severely in the current climate.
Nevertheless, Data Center sales are likely to remain the key growth driver for some time to come, driven by not just the boom in all things AI but also the relentless thirst for digital content. With lower cost AI models coming in, it may increase the addressable market and the seemingly insatiable demand for chips.
Disney, Q1 Results, Wednesday 5 February
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown: Disney’s performance in recent years has been a far cry from the fairytale management investors were hoping for. But after years of hard work and investment, things may just be about to turn. Growth in streaming profits at the likes of Disney+ are finally at a point where they can more than offset declines in linear TV. Alongside a much-improved content slate and reduction in customers switching to peers, its competitive position is looking much stronger.
There are also the parks to consider, which have received a step-up in investment in recent years, driving hopes of strong profit growth for the foreseeable future. But with the opening of Comcast’s new Epic Universe theme park later this year, some analysts wonder if Disney may turn slightly more cautious on its parks outlook in the near term.
Investor confidence was buoyed by the group issuing three-year guidance last quarter. With high single-digit earnings per share (EPS) growth expected this year, investors will be keen to see how much early progress the group has made when it announces first-quarter results next week.
AstraZeneca, Full Year Results, Thursday 6 February
Derren Nathan, head of equity analysis, Hargreaves Lansdown: Following an upgrade after its third-quarter numbers, AstraZeneca expects to deliver high-teens growth for both revenue and underlying earnings per share in next week’s full-year results. Attention will now turn towards the outlook for the current year both in terms of sales and profits, but also the key clinical programmes from Astra’s deep research pipeline.
Investors are also likely to be sensitive to any word on fraud investigations by the Chinese Authorities into certain senior staff members. The company will be hoping that reported moves to overhaul its management in the region will give some grounds for optimism that the fallout can be limited.
This article has been brought to you in association with Hargreaves Lansdown. All opinions expressed in this article are from the analysts and do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Armchair Trader.
FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and selected other companies scheduled to report
| Monday 03-Feb | |
| Palantir Technologies NYSE:PLTR | Q4 Results |
| Tuesday 04-Feb | |
| Advanced Micro Devices [NasdaqGS:AMD] | Q4 Results |
| Alphabet NASDAQ:GOOGL | Q4 Results |
| Crest Nicholson LON:CRST | Full Year Results |
| Diageo LON:DGE | Half Year Results |
| PayPal NASDAQ:PYPL | Q4 Results |
| PepsiCo [NasdaqGS:PEP] | Q4 Results |
| Pfizer NYSE:PFE | Q4 Results |
| Vodafone LON:VOD | Q3 Trading Statement |
| Wednesday 05-Feb | |
| DCC LON:DCC | Q3 Trading Statement |
| GSK LON:GSK | Full Year Results |
| Novo Nordisk [CPH:NOVO | Q4 Results |
| SSE [LON:SSE | Q3 Trading Statement |
| Walt DisneyNYSE:DIS | Q1 Results |
| Thursday 06-Feb | |
| Amazon NASDAQ:AMZN | Q4 Results |
| Anglo American LON:AAL | Q4 Production Report |
| AstraZeneca LON:AZN | Full Year Results |
| Compass LON:CPG | Q1 Trading Statement |
| Eli Lilly NYSE:LLY | Q4 Results |
| Syncona [LON:SYNC] | Q3 Results |
| Virgin Money LON:VMUK | Q1 Trading Statement |
| Watches of Switzerland LON:WOSG | Q3 Trading Statement |
| Friday 07-Feb | |
| Ashmore LON:ASHM | Half Year Results |
| Smurfit Westrock [LON:SWR] | Full Year Results |
