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Shutterfly (SFLY) Q1 Earnings Preview: What's in Store?

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Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service provider, Shutterfly, Inc. is scheduled to report first-quarter 2017 numbers on Apr 25, after market close.

Last quarter, the company posted a negative earnings surprise of 3.66%. However, in the three quarters before that, the company surpassed estimates, bringing the trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise to a positive 11.60%.

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

Shutterfly, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

 

Factors Likely to Influence This Quarter

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 first quarter of 2017, the company expects to incur loss per share in the range of $1.00 to 95 cents. Net revenue is projected to be in the range of $185.0 million to $190.0 million, a year-over-year decrease in the band of 1.6% to 4.2%.

Shutterfly’s strategic acquisitions, 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. The company’s Shutterfly 3.0 initiative, under which it aims to create a platform and device-agnostic memory management as well as personalized e-commerce solution, should further drive the quarter’s performance.

As announced in the fourth quarter of 2016, Shutterfly has undertaken various structural changes. In order to focus more on profitable and cost-effective brands, the company plans to retire many of its other brands. Also, 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, to this end. Additionally, the company expects to incur restructuring charges over the first few months of 2017 ranging from $15-$20 million, which could pressurize margins in the to-be-reported quarter.

Moreover, higher costs associated with strategic initiatives to increases 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 that Shutterfly is likely to beat earnings 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: The Earnings ESP for Shutterfly is 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at a loss of $1.03. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
 
Zacks Rank: Shutterfly has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

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

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies in the broader Computer & Technology sector that investors may consider, as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Intelsat S.A. has an Earnings ESP of +23.08% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Seagate Technology PLC (STX - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +3.77% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Anixter International Inc. has an Earnings ESP of +2.00% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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