What To Expect From Shutterfly (SFLY) This Earnings Season?

Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service provider, Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY) is scheduled to report second-quarter 2017 numbers on Jul 25, after market closes.

In the last reported quarter, the company’s loss was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, which led to a positive earnings surprise of 18.45%. In fact, the company surpassed estimates in three of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 13.12%.

Shutterfly, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Factors at Play

Shutterfly generally incurs loss in the first three quarters and makes profit in the final quarter of every year because of the seasonal nature of its business. For the second quarter of 2017, the company expects to incur loss per share in the range of 55-50 cents. Net revenue is projected to be in the range of $205-$212 million, representing a year-over-year decrease in the band of 0.5%-3.9%.

Shutterfly’s improved offerings in the growing mobile e-Commerce segment, aggressive promotions and easy-to-use products are its strong points and should continue to boost results in the to-be-reported quarter.

Moreover, continuous expansion of its range of products is a key element of the company’s strategy, which is likely to boost sales. In fact, its Shutterfly 3.0 initiative, under which the company aims to create a platform and device-agnostic memory management as well as personalized e-commerce solution, might further drive the quarter’s performance.

As announced in the fourth quarter of 2016, Shutterfly has undertaken various structural changes. Also, in order to focus more on profitable and cost-effective brands, the company plans to retire many of its other brands.

As part of the restructuring, the company is focusing on reducing its workforce by about 13%, thereby reducing costs considerably. The first three quarters of 2017 are thus expected to be a transitioning period for the company. Additionally, the company expects to incur restructuring charges over the first few months of the current year ranging from $15-$20 million, which could pressurize margins in the to-be-reported quarter. Notably, by the end of first-quarter 2017, about $9 million of the expenses had already been incurred.

Moreover, higher costs associated with strategic initiatives to increase its production capacity may also somewhat hamper the quarter’s profits, while unfavorable travel industry and consumer spending trends might limit revenue growth.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show an earnings beat for Shutterfly this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here, as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: Shutterfly has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at a loss of 56 cents per share. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Shutterfly currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. However, the company’s 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.

Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into an earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revision momentum.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies in the same space to consider as our model shows they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Logitech International S.A. (NASDAQ:LOGI) has an Earnings ESP of +11.76% and a Zacks Rank #1.

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) has an Earnings ESP of +1.32% and a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) has an Earnings ESP of +0.58% and a Zacks Rank #2.

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