Articles by Chris Markoch

Chris Markoch is a freelance financial copywriter with over five years of experience covering various aspects of the financial markets. You may find his writing a little different than other stock articles you’ve read. And that’s OK with him. Chris doesn’t have a traditional finance background. What he does bring to the table is a strong business and marketing background having worked for agencies that serviced Fortune 500 companies. With that in mind, he isn’t overly impressed with what companies say, and more focused on what they do. And because buyer behavior dictates so much of what happens with a stock, Chris always keeps the end consumer close in mind. Chris has been writing for MarketBeat since 2018.

After last quarter’s earnings report, you can’t fault investors for applying the “once you’re lucky, twice you’re good” mantra to Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) stock.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it frequently rhymes. So when I suggest that the U.S. economy is intertwined with the fortunes of restaurant stocks like Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI), I say it with my tongue firmly in my cheek.

Stitch Fix (NASDAQ: SFIX) reports earnings after the market closes on September 22. Analysts are expecting the online personal shopping company to post improved numbers from the prior quarter.

FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) just delivered an earnings report that is causing the stock to soar. It appears that shares of the delivery services company will open up nearly 10% above its closing price of $236.67

The race for a Covid-19 vaccine is dominating the news cycle. Dozens of companies from around the globe are participating in one of the more fascinating scientific quests of all time.

Shares of Peloton climbed over 70% from the middle of October into December and then gave all those gains back and more when the market crashed in March.

looking beyond e-commerce stocks (which are really a category by themselves) and identifying three stay-at-home stocks that are going strong now and look to have a long runway.

GameStop (NYSE:GME) will report its 2020 second-quarter earnings on September 9, 2020 after the market closes. In a parallel universe, there may be things to get excited about for GME stock investors

One of the more intriguing companies to report earnings this week is the restaurant and entertainment franchise Dave & Busters (NYSE:PLAY).

Slack (NYSE:WORK) reports earnings after the market closes on September 8. Shares of WORK stock have been sliding in the five days prior to earnings.

This might be seen as the ultimate contrarian opinion, but I would be concerned about buying Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) at its current price.

The Chinese social media company, Momo (NASDAQ:MOMO), is many things. One part of the company, Tantan, is an online dating site that is compared to Tinder.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) could very well be looked at as the forgotten semiconductor stock. AVGO stock is “only” up about 16% for this year.

There’s a lot to like about Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE). The company appeals to a specific niche and does so at discount prices. FIVE stock has bounced back 110% since hitting a low of $52.27

Investors that can do basic math will realize that the numbers that H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) is likely to report in its first-quarter 2021 earnings report are decoupled from reality.

It’s always good to find a bargain. And it’s especially good to make a dollar stretch further in uncertain economic times like these. That’s formula is working for Ollie’s Bargain Outlet

A growing subsector of discount retail is the dollar store chains. Two of the best-known names are Dollar General (NYSE:DG) and Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR).

Box (NYSE:BOX) reports earnings on August 26. At this time, the company is projected to deliver earnings per share of 12 cents per share on revenue of just over $190 million.

Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK) was trading in a tight range for most of the year, but has seen a breakout recently. The question is will it power higher after earnings?

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) will report earnings after the market closes on August 25. And after a quarter in which the company delivered the performance normally expected during tax season,

At a quick glance, there’s not a lot to like about Children’s Place (NYSE:PLCE) stock. The company had to shutter its brick-and-mortar operations in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) has been an overlooked stock in 2020. And the novel coronavirus has been a big reason for that. As the year started, Medtronic was continuing to enjoy a rally that started in the middle of 2019

J.M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) will release earnings for its fiscal year 2021 first quarter before the bell on August 25. At this time, analysts are projecting the company to post earnings of $1.69 per share

If you think of John Deere (NYSE:DE) as “just” an agricultural business, you’ll have a difficult time of making heads or tails on the future direction of the stock.

Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) will report earnings on August 20. Investors are expecting to see the company post numbers that indicate the company’s e-commerce business is free of the novel coronavirus and firing on all cylinders.

Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) is widely expected to deliver a stellar earnings report when the market opens on August 19. The consensus of analysts is for Lowe’s to deliver earnings per share (EPS) of $2.94.

As expected Walmart (NYSE:WMT) reported exceptional earnings on August 18. Earnings per share came in at $1.56 well above consensus expectations of $1.25.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) reports earnings on August 19. And NVDA stock is climbing on news that analysts have increased their price targets for the stock.

And investors who are speculating in Ayro (NASDAQ:AYRO) would agree.  Despite being up at times, AYRO stock is down 15% for the year.

That would seem to bode well for Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC) and Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY). Both of these cannabis stocks were expected to make it through the consolidation phase that the market needs to go through.

What a difference one month makes. 30 days ago, the forecast for DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) was looking like a bad poker hand. But putting aside the very real possibility that there will be no college football in 2020

Applied Materials issued a 2nd quarter earnings report (FQ3) any company would be proud of. The only negative is GAAP EPS fell short of consensus by $0.03 (about 4%) but that is easy to overlook.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) reported earnings on August 12. The company posted lower revenue (as expected). However the ride-hailing company was able to beat on earnings due to cost-cutting measures

Shares of Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) stock are likely to start trading sharply lower after an earnings report that showed continued weakness in cannabis demand.

In mid-day trading, investors are still trying to decide what to do with Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK). After an initial spike in pre-market trading, DUK stock is down over 1%

Shares of Livongo Health (NASDAQ:LVGO) are up 6% in early trading as investors are celebrating the company’s stellar earnings report.

Flexion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FLXN) will report earnings after the markets close on August 5. The company is expected to announce negative earnings per share of 70 cents on revenue of $9.9 million.

I know that most companies could say they need a good break or two, but in the case of Amarin (NASDAQ:AMRN) it has a particular meaning.

Disney (NYSE:DIS) will report earnings for its fiscal third quarter when the market closes on August 4. And if you put stock in things like the whisper number, it could be a dismal report for Disney.

Travel stocks such as Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H) were keenly affected by the novel coronavirus.  Investors will get a sense of just how badly some hotel chains fared

The Finnish company Nokia (NYSE: NOK) reports earnings on July 31. The consensus of analysts is for Nokia to report earnings of 3 cents per share on revenue of $5.63 billion.

Blue Apron (NYSE: APRN) has been a company that appeared to be on the road to nowhere. However, as the company gets ready to announce earnings on July 29, the tide may be turning.

Analysts are expecting Yum! Brands to post earnings per share of 50 cents on revenue of $1.15 billion. The whisper number is saying Yum will surprise to the upside at 54 cents EPS.

And that’s important to note when you try to make sense of the Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) earnings report. The company released earnings on July 28.

Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) will report earnings on July 28. The numbers are likely to be dreadful as the company will report on business activity from April 1 through June 30. During this time, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closing of all of Boyd’s 29 properties.

McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) appears to be a solid buy as the iconic fast-food chain prepares to report revenue on July 28. The company’s earnings are expected to reflect how deeply the Covid-19 pandemic affected every part of our economy.

On the heels of the big banks reporting earnings last week, two of the largest credit card issuers were on deck this week. Capital One (NYSE: COF) reported earnings after the market closed on July 21. Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) reports after the closing bell on July 22.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is looking more and more like a forever stock. But as MSFT stock is showing the day after its earnings report, let the buyer beware.

Hershey’s (NYSE: HSY) illustrates the fascinating part of being an investor in 2020. The company posted mixed earnings (beat on earnings, missed slightly on revenue).

Sun Communities (NYSE: SUI) will announce second-quarter earnings after the market closes on July 22. At this time, analysts expect SUI’s earnings to come in at $1.17 per share on revenue of $330.71 million.