3 stocks to watch this week: Nike, Micron Technology, Paychex

• Nike continues to face supply chain disruptions and strict COVID restrictions in China, its second largest market

• Micron’s fourth-quarter sales are expected to be lower or below its previous guidance as customers reduce inventory of unused chips

• Paychex results to provide insight into the health of small and medium businesses through its payroll data

Risks to global growth and stubbornly high inflation will remain front and center in equity markets this week, where there are few signs of a reversal after a sharp sell-off to end the summer.

Fresh signs of slowing global growth hit all sorts of assets last week with further selling in the stock and bond markets. The fell to its lowest level of the year, the jumped and the short term jumped.

It was the fourth consecutive negative session for equities, after the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked the price by 75 basis points on Wednesday and signaled that it was not yet done with its

rate-tightening cycle

.

As these volatile market conditions prevail, here are three stocks we’re watching closely – all of which will announce their latest results in the coming days:

1. Nike

Sportswear giant Nike Inc (NYSE:) is expected to report its first quarter fiscal 2023 results on Thursday, September 29 after market close. On average, analysts expect the sportswear giant to earn $0.92 a share on sales of $12.29 billion.

Source: InvestingPro+

In the prior quarter, quarterly sales for Nike were roughly flat as the world’s largest sportswear company continued to grapple with supply chain disruptions and strict COVID-related restrictions in China. , its second market.

Executives said they were optimistic for the current fiscal year as production exceeded pre-pandemic levels and demand remains strong in North America and Europe. They forecast stronger revenue growth for the year beginning June 1, but said near-term earnings would be hurt by high shipping costs.

Nike stock, which is down more than 40% this year, closed Friday at $97.02.

2. Micron Technology

Chipmaker Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:) will also report its fiscal 2022 fourth-quarter results on Thursday, after the close. The storage chipmaker is estimated to have made $1.38 in earnings per share on $6.81 billion in sales.

Source: InvestingPro+

Micron, a major U.S. memory semiconductor maker, said last month that demand for its products was declining rapidly and revenue would fall short of earlier forecasts.

The company’s fourth-quarter sales are expected to be lower or lower than its previous forecast as customers reduce inventories of unused chips. There will be “significant sequential declines in revenue and margins,” Micron said in a regulatory filing, following similar warnings from other manufacturers including Nvidia (NASDAQ:) and Intel (NASDAQ:).

Micron stock closed at $50.10 on Friday, down about 46% for the year, underperforming the benchmark (SOX), which has weakened 39% over the same period.

3.Paychex

Investors will also focus on the latest quarterly report from Paychex Inc (NASDAQ:), which is scheduled for release on Wednesday, September 28, before the market opens. The Rochester, New York-based payroll and human resources company is expected to report earnings of $0.9697 per share on sales of $1.18 billion.

Paychex, with 710,000 business customers in the United States and Northern Europe, provides deep insight into the health of small and medium-sized businesses, their employment and wage trends, and impacts by industry.

Source: InvestingPro+

Small business workers continue to enjoy higher wages, according to the latest Paychex report, with average hourly earnings growth reaching 5.18% in August, matching a record set in May 2022.

The stock closed Friday at $115.02, down about 15% for the year. Despite this year’s weakness, PAYX is still up more than 50% over the past two years, recovering strongly from the pandemic-induced crisis.

Disclosure: The author does not own shares of the companies mentioned in this article.

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