Earnings: beats under fire
Corporate results are holding up despite the shock: FedEx beat by ~26%, raised full‑year guidance — then announced ~5,000 layoffs — while Accenture reported record bookings driven by AI consulting. — Retail and consumer names also surprised: Lululemon EPS $5.01 vs $4.78 est, Dollar General comps +4.3% with operating profit roughly doubling, and Darden’s LongHorn posted +7.2%; overall 6 of 9 S&P firms beat, with AI capex/cuts underpinning ~16% EPS growth expectations. (x.com) (x.com)
FedEx reported consolidated quarterly revenue of $24.0 billion and adjusted EPS of $5.25 for the period ending Feb. 28, and management raised its full‑year adjusted EPS outlook to a $19.30–$20.10 range while setting the FedEx Freight spin‑off for June 1, 2026. (newsroom.fedex.com) (cnbc.com) The company says Network 2.0 — its multi‑year Ground/Express integration — is on track to deliver roughly $2 billion of cumulative savings by the end of 2027 and involves the permanent closure of hundreds of overlapping stations. (investors.fedex.com) (supplychaindive.com) Local WARN filings tied to that consolidation have come in waves: one North Texas closure will eliminate 856 roles at a Coppell supply‑chain site, and another recent notice affected 89 workers at a Fort Worth facility, illustrating the piecemeal nature of the job reductions. (chron.com) (yahoo.com) Accenture posted record new bookings of $22.1 billion for the quarter, with revenues at the top of its guided range and a record 41 clients with quarterly bookings above $100 million, outcomes the company attributes to an acceleration in AI‑related engagements. (businesswire.com) (bloomberg.com) Lululemon’s release shows quarterly revenue of about $3.64 billion and full‑year sales near $11.1 billion, while management flagged softer near‑term revenue guidance and external pressures including tariff costs and an ongoing proxy dispute. (corporate.lululemon.com) (cnbc.com) Dollar General reported fourth‑quarter net sales of $10.9 billion and operating profit rising to roughly $606.3 million for the quarter, while Darden posted ~$3.3 billion in quarterly sales and repurchased about $127 million of stock as LongHorn led brand performance. (investor.dollargeneral.com) (prnewswire.com) Analysts continue to re‑price 2026 expectations around AI: a range of houses now project mid‑teens EPS growth tied to large hyperscaler capex and corporate AI spend, while firms such as Goldman Sachs put hyperscaler AI capex estimates in the hundreds of billions for the year. (gomarkets.com) (goldmansachs.com)
