Deutsche Bank analysts shared their views on SMART Global Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGH) ahead of the upcoming Q2/23 earnings announcement on April 4, highlighting near-term risks.
The analysts expect the company to report in line quarterly results, with strength in Intelligent Platform Solutions (IPS) offsetting weakness in Memory and LED. That said, Q3 guidance could come in below the Street estimates, with risks to all three businesses.
The analysts noted that IT hardware peers have guided conservatively for Q2 citing more cautious budgets and lengthening sales cycles, although AI/HPC is a bright spot which is the company’s focus. In addition, memory pricing remains challenging, while slow economic growth could delay inventory depletion in the LED market.
Despite increasing macro headwinds in the near term, analysts expect the company to focus on things it can control, by improving gross margin and increasing the mix of recurring service revenues, especially in the IPS business, and hence its EPS should be more resilient than in past cycles.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) shares rose nearly 8% since the company’s reported Q2 earnings results last week, with EPS of $2.69 coming in better than the Street estimate of $2.49. Revenue was $15.8 billion, beating the Street estimate of $15.61 billion.
Reflecting lower anticipated FX headwinds, but a tightening of local-currency revenue growth towards the lower end of the prior range, management maintained the midpoint of its 2023 reported revenue guidance and adjusted operating margin targets, while increasing its EPS guidance.
The company expects 2023 EPS in the range of $11.41-$11.63, compared to the Street estimate of $11.45. Full-year revenue growth is expected in the range of 8% to 10% in local currency and a foreign-exchange impact of negative 4.5%.
Furthermore, the company announced its plans to lay off about 19,000 people, or approximately 2.5% of its total global workforce.

RBC Capital analysts provided their key takeaways from Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) investor meeting, noting they came away more positive on the company, as it is working on truly transforming the business and emphasizing profitability.
Salesforce noted “phase one” of the profitability journey is the 30% operating margin target (Q1/25) driven by the RIF and ongoing cost-cutting initiatives. Management also outlined an aspirational “phase two” path to potentially unlocking margins in-line with large-cap software peers, driven by more surgical go-to-market changes, deeper product integration, and more hiring in lower-cost areas (e.g. Hyderabad).
Management acknowledges ongoing changes could lead to some disruption and lower morale, which coupled with macro, are growth headwinds. However, beyond the near-term, the growth drivers are mostly unchanged, including (1) International, where Salesforce is much less penetrated and can improve the GTM by putting more investment into the indirect/reseller channels, (2) Industry Cloud, with now 12 out-of-the-box solutions for specific verticals, which have seen strong performance recently (Industry Cloud has better margins and gross retention).

FactSet (NYSE:FDS) shares fell more than 4% since the company’s reported Q2 results, with EPS of $3.80 beating the Street estimate of $3.69. Revenue was $515.1 million, roughly in line with the Street estimate of $515.48 million.
Despite the beat, the company slightly lowered its full-year 2023 Annual Subscription Value (ASV) and revenue guidance, reflecting a potential slowdown in the banking sector (2/3 of ASV) and lengthening the sales cycle and constrained budget (1/3 of ASV).
The company expects 2023 EPS in the range of $14.50-$14.90, compared to the Street estimate of $14.89. Full-year revenue is expected in the range of $2.08-2.1 billion, compared to the Street estimate of $2.09 billion.

Deutsche Bank provided its outlook on Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) ahead of the upcoming Q4/23 earnings report tomorrow.
The analysts expect the company to beat Q4 (modeling $4.28 EPS vs. the Street estimate of $4.25), particularly on the top-line as they anticipate gross profit margin to come in at the low end of the range provided at ICR given higher than usual levels of markdowns in stores and online throughout January.
The analysts highlighted that investor sentiment generally leans positive into the print, with the expectation that the company will guide 2023 to approximately $11.50 (vs. Street’s $11.27) and in line with its long-term algorithm.
The analysts are of the view that a better than anticipated top-line will likely be somewhat offset by softer gross margin guidance, particularly in the first half of the year.