YouGov PLC () is one among the many mid-caps and small caps announcing results on Tuesday, with the online market researcher putting out numbers for the six months to end-January.
The company, whose shares rose over 50% last year and are up sevenfold over the past five, said back in a January update that investors should not to expect too much in these results, with most of its revenue growth and profit margin delivery likely to be weighted towards the second half of its financial year.
YouGov said it performed well during the period with underlying revenue growth across its three divisions, led by Data Services amid strong demand for more “tactical, fast turnaround projects”.
Following the recent acquisition of sports research agency Charlton Insights in Canada, broker Peel Hunt was looking to hear more, as this addition “should further support the growth of its Sports syndicated products, which have been growing very fast since the acquisition of SMG Insight back in 2018”.
GameStop’s new start?
Meanwhile, over in the US favourite () will announce quarterly results on Tuesday evening, with its shares down 45% from January’s higher but still around 1,000% higher than at the start of the year.
Some might argue that the day-traders of ’s WallStreetBets don’t really care about the financial fundamentals of the stumbling video games retailer, it’s more about the battle with short-selling hedge funds.
But for those that do, Wall Street analysts are forecasting earnings and revenues for the three months to end-January to be higher than this time last year.
Earnings per share are seen coming in at US$1.46, according to the Street consensus, up 15%, on revenues 2% higher at US$2.2bn.
While in its recent annual report, GameStop painted a gloomy picture for the future of bricks-and-mortar games retailing, saying it “may take significant time and resources” to respond to the moving of games purchases through digital channel, this month the company recruited major investor Ryan Cohen to join a strategic-planning committee to “identify initiatives that can further accelerate the company’s transformation”.
Cohen, the co-founder of online pet products retailer Chewy, has been known to move the company’s shares by tweeting pictures of ice cream cones or tog dogs, so harnessing his powerful influence seems a start.
This week will see if the GameStop frenzy has further legs.
UK unemployment numbers
The latest set of UK jobs figures on Tuesday will continue to provide an incomplete picture of the UK labour market with the furlough scheme still in place
UK unemployment is expected to rise to 5.2% in January after creeping up to 5.1% in December, and to continue rising until at least early next year, as job losses often do even as economies emerge out of recession.
The Office for Budget Responsibility recently tweaked its economic projections for unemployment down from a peak of 7.5% to 6.5% earlier this month but based…
Read More: GameStop Corp braces for first earnings since Reddit ruckus, YouGov