The Week Ahead: Earnings from HP, Dell, and Best Buy, Plus Consumer Data

We are setting the table for Thanksgiving week.

The holiday week tends to be quieter, and earnings are slowing down. We will be watching for earnings releases from HP (HPQ), Dell (DELL), and Best Buy (BBY), as well as some economic data before Thursday.

HP, a leading provider of computers, printers, and printer supplies, releases earnings on Tuesday. We believe HP is facing a difficult long-term business environment. As consumer habits shift toward mobile devices and digitization exerts pressure on printed pages, HP's sustainable growth opportunities may be tempered. Earlier this month, talks of Xerox (XRX) considering the purchase of HP were revealed. This deal could add synergies to the two printer and copier companies. 

Dell, a pre-eminent vendor of IT infrastructure products and services, is set to announce earnings on Tuesday as well. We believe Dell's strategic shift to increase edge computing, cloud offerings, artificial intelligence capabilities, and premium offerings with its software and services matches market dynamics.

As one of the world's leading consumer electronics specialty retailers, Best Buy has delivered solid fundamentals the past several years. This is thanks to operational improvements and prioritizing the right business prospects to stay competitive in an evolving consumer electronics retail market. However, online retailers and mass merchants such as Amazon.com (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT) pose a threat to Best Buy's market position. Best Buy also reports earnings on Tuesday.

On the economic data front, we will see a bundle of housing data on Tuesday, including two housing price indexes and new home sales. Consumer confidence data also will be released on Tuesday.

The Fed's last beige book of the year, covering information on current economic conditions, will be out on Wednesday. Additional consumer spending data also rolls out on the same day, including personal income and spending data for October.