Earningsneutral
CarMax (KMX), Accenture (ACN) and Kroger (KR) Set to Report Next Week, Offering Fresh Reads on Consumer and Enterprise Spending
CarMax reports Q1 results June 17, with Accenture and Kroger following June 18. Together the trio offers investors a timely gauge of used-car demand, corporate IT and AI budgets, and grocery spending heading into the second half of 2026.
A compact but consequential earnings slate lands next week, spanning the auto, enterprise-services and grocery sectors and giving Wall Street three distinct windows into the health of the consumer and corporate spending.
CarMax (KMX) opens the run before the bell on June 17, reporting fiscal Q1 results for the quarter ended May 31. Wall Street is bracing for a year-over-year pullback: consensus calls for roughly $7.4 billion in revenue and EPS near $0.94–$0.96, with analysts modeling lower earnings on softer volumes. The stakes are high for a name that has seen estimates weaken — options markets are pricing a potential swing of about 12% on the print, per Bloomberg-compiled data. Investors will focus on unit comps, gross profit per used vehicle, and whether stubbornly high financing rates and affordability pressures are still throttling demand at the nation's largest used-car retailer.
The following morning brings two heavyweights. Accenture (ACN) discusses third-quarter fiscal 2026 results on a call at 8:00 a.m. EDT June 18. Analysts expect revenue around $18.7–$18.8 billion, up roughly 6% year over year, and EPS near $3.72. Management's prior guidance framed 1%–5% local-currency growth plus a currency tailwind. The swing factor is new bookings — $22.1 billion last quarter, up 6% — which serve as a proxy for whether corporate IT budgets are stabilizing. The bigger narrative is AI: bulls see generative AI as a demand catalyst for Accenture's consulting and reinvention work, while skeptics question whether AI ultimately compresses the labor-leveraged margin model. The commentary may move sentiment across the IT-services group.
Kroger (KR) rounds out the slate, with Q1 results expected June 18. Consensus points to roughly $45.4 billion in revenue and EPS near $1.58. The grocer guided full-year identical sales ex-fuel of 1.0%–2.0% — held back by an estimated ~130-basis-point Inflation Reduction Act headwind — and flagged Q1 landing near the low end on egg deflation. Investors will watch identical sales, the pace and profitability of e-commerce, double-digit retail-media growth, and progress on cost savings, alongside reaffirmation of adjusted FIFO operating profit of $5.0B–$5.2B and full-year EPS of $5.10–$5.30.
Taken together, the reports triangulate spending across big-ticket discretionary (CarMax), enterprise and AI investment (Accenture), and defensive staples (Kroger). A soft CarMax print would reinforce concerns about rate-sensitive consumers, while resilient Kroger comps would underscore the staples bid. Accenture's bookings and AI tone could set the mood for the broader services and software complex. With mixed setups — CarMax facing declines, Accenture navigating AI skepticism, and Kroger steady but margin-constrained — the week reads as a balanced, data-dependent checkpoint rather than a clear directional signal.
June 12, 2026 at 10:01 AMKMXACNKR