Gap
Apparel retailer Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) has seen its share price drop by about 14% over the past 12 months, including a boost of 26% over the past six months. Company executives warned last month of a decline in sales for the company’s holiday quarter, due in part to rising costs. Gap fired 500 executives in September and stopped hiring and contracting through the end of 2022. Cutting costs will help but seems unlikely to have much positive effect on fourth-quarter results.
Analysts continue to be cautious on the stock, with 13 of 21 having a Hold rating and just three others rating it at Buy or Strong Buy. At a share price of around $12.00, the stock is trading at its median price target. At the high target of $25.00, the implied gain is 108.3%.
Fourth-quarter fiscal 2023 revenue is forecast to come in at $4.37 billion, up 8.2% sequentially but 3.5% lower year over year. Analysts anticipated a loss per share of $0.46, compared to EPS of $0.71 in the prior quarter and a per-share loss of $0.02 in the year-ago quarter. For the full fiscal year that ended in January, analysts currently expect a loss per share of $0.12, down from EPS of $1.44 in the prior year, on sales of $15.74 billion, down 5.6%.
Gap stock trades at 15.48 times estimated 2024 EPS of $0.78 and 12.3 times estimated 2025 earnings of $0.98 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $7.79 to $15.53. Gap pays an annual dividend of $0.60 (yield of 4.95%), and the total shareholder return for the past year was negative 8.86%.
Oracle
Software and cloud-computing giant Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) has added about 19% to its share price over the past 12 months with virtually all the gain coming in the past six months. Shares posted their 52-week high a month ago, gaining about a third since posting a 52-week low in late September. The company may soon begin to feel some pressure from Microsoft’s introduction of its AI assistant, Dynamics 365 Copilot, which is set to bring OpenAI’s technology to the sales, marketing and customer service segments of enterprise-size businesses.
Of 32 analysts covering the stock, 13 have a Buy or Strong Buy rating and 16 rate it at Hold. At a share price of around $88.40, the upside potential based on a median price target of $93.50 is about 5.8%. At the high price target of $120.00, the upside potential is 35.7%.
Fiscal third-quarter revenue is forecast at $12.52 billion, up 1.1% sequentially and 18.2% higher year over year. Adjusted EPS are pegged at $1.20, down a penny sequentially and up 6.2% year over year. For the full 2023 fiscal year ending in May, current estimates call for EPS of $4.90, up 0.04%, on sales of $49.86 billion, up 17.5%.
Oracle stock trades at 18.0 times expected 2023 EPS, 15.8 times estimated 2024 earnings of $5.58 and 13.8 times estimated 2025 earnings of $6.41 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $60.78 to $91.22. The company pays an annual dividend of $1.28 (yield of 1.45%). Total shareholder return for the past year is 20.96%.
Originally published at 24/7 Wall St.
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