- Wall Street awaits Q2 earnings from Home Depot, Target, and Walmart this week
- US core inflation rose 0.2% in July, showing steady price increases
- Fed rate hike odds for September drop to 30.6%, with 69.4% chance of hold
Wall Street bulls will keep a close watch on American retail biggies this week, with second quarter earnings of Home Depot Inc., Target Corp., and Walmart Inc. lined up consecutively.
Notably, United States' core inflation continued to soften in the month of July, pointing towards a steady plateauing of the Iran war triggered spike in retail prices.
The consumer price index, excluding often-volatile food and energy categories, increased 0.2% from a month earlier, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, while on an annual basis, it advanced 2.5%.
Consequently, CME Group's Fedwatch has flipped the script for a potential rate hike in the September FOMC, with 69.4% probability of a hold and only 30.6% probability of a hike.
In the given backdrop, Wall Street Analysts are expecting all three of them to report year-on-year growth in earnings and revenue, although same-store sales growth estimates point to a divided trend in consumer demand.
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Here's a closer look at the key metrics:
Home Depot
Home Depot is scheduled to declare its financial results on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. Earnings per share (EPS) is estimated at $4.73, up 1.02% from $4.68 a year ago.
Revenue is expected to rise 4.55% to $47.3 billion from $45.28 billion. Same-store sales growth (SSSG) is estimated at 0.97%, down from 1% a year ago.
Gross margin is expected at 33.03%, compared with 33.4% in the year-ago period. Operating income is estimated at $6.7 billion, up 1.23% from $6.6 billion.
Target
Target will release its financial fineprint on Wednesday. EPS is estimated at $2.31, up 13% from $2.05 a year ago. Revenue is expected to increase 3.34% to $25.5 billion from $24.7 billion. SSSG is estimated at 2.43%, nearly three times the year-ago level.
Gross margin, excluding other revenue, is expected at 28.40%, up from 27.57%. Operating income is estimated at $1.4 billion, up 6.77% from $1.3 billion.
Walmart
Finally Walmart's Q2 earnings report will come out on Thursday, wherein EPS is estimated at $0.74, up 8.73% from $0.68 a year ago.
Revenue is expected to rise 5.37% to $186.9 billion from $177.4 billion. SSSG excluding fuel is estimated at 3.7%, down from 4.8% a year ago.
E-commerce SSSG is expected to improve to 4.5% from 4.2% a year ago. Gross margin is estimated at 24.61%, compared with 24.4% a year ago.
Net sales are expected at $185 billion, up 5.27% from $175 billion. Operating income is expected to rise 18.17% to $8.6 billion from $7.3 billion.
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