AutoZone (AZO) Q4 Earnings: What To Expect

By Dan Lam

Much like that final drumstick you probably shouldn't have eaten, equities spent last week digesting their gains. All three major indexes finished up between 0.3% and 0.9% on the heels of their best Thanksgiving-week performances in more than a decade.

Stocks were supported by reports that Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, has emerged as the front-runner to replace Jerome Powell as the next Fed chair. Hassett is seen as a dove and has called for more interest-rate cuts.

Wall Street anticipates a quarter-point rate cut at this week's main event, the Federal Open Market Committee's monetary-policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, culminating with Powell's press conference at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. But Powell is expected to deliver a hawkish cut, meaning he won't signal any rate cuts early next year. The current Fed chair has stressed that there are risks to both sides of the Fed's dual mandate — stable prices and maximum employment — and that monetary policy should reflect that risk.

A few megacap companies will report results on an otherwise quiet earnings calendar. Adobe and Oracle will report earnings after the market close on Wednesday, and Broadcom and Costco Wholesale follow suit on Thursday.

Monday 12/8

Toll Brothers reports fourth-quarter fiscal-2025 results.

Tuesday 12/9

AeroVironment, AutoZone, Campbell's, Casey's General Stores, Ferguson Enterprises, and GameStop release earnings.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for both September and October. At the end of August, there were 7.22 million job openings and 1.02 unemployed workers for every open position, the highest ratio since April 2021.

The National Federation of Independent Business releases its Small Business Optimism Index for November. Consensus estimate is for a 98.2 reading, matching the October figure, and in line with the 52-year average of 98.

Wednesday 12/10

Adobe, Chewy, Nordson, Oracle, and Synopsys hold conference calls to discuss quarterly results.

The FOMC announces its monetary policy decision. The FOMC is widely expected to cut the federal-funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 3.5%-3.75%. The central bank also releases its quarterly Summary of Economic Projections. In the September SEP, the median projection for the federal-funds rate by year-end 2026 was 3.4%, which would imply only one more quarter-point cut, assuming the FOMC cuts at this meeting. Traders are pricing in a roughly 3% federal-funds rate by December 2026, a much more aggressive easing cycle than currently forecast by the central bank. This may be due to the fact that dovish Kevin Hassett, currently director of the National Economic Council, has emerged as the favorite to replace Powell as Fed chair, whose term ends in May.

Thursday 12/11

Broadcom, Ciena, Costco Wholesale, and Lululemon Athletica release earnings.

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(12:17 GMT) AutoZone Price Target Announced at $4500.00/Share by Baird