Chart of the Day: Urban Outfitters Facing Too Many Headwinds

 | Nov 22, 2022 00:13

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) is scheduled to release earnings after market close for the fiscal quarter ending October 2022. Analysts expect an EPS of $0.4181, half of last year's corresponding quarter. However, consensus sees revenues increasing year on year to $1.16 billion.

I have repeatedly criticized the trend of recommending a stock while Wall Street analysts lower earnings forecasts. Investment banks do not have a good track record of warning investors ahead of bear markets. So, will investors accumulate the stock if earnings surprise to the upside?

There is another external headwind to consider. URBN is listed on the Nasdaq Composite, which has lost 28.7% year to date (ytd), providing the worst return of all the major US gauges. Institutions buy and sell the components of that index as they peg portfolios against it, so Urban Outfitters has also been falling because of that.

In addition, Urban Outfitters is in the Consumer Discretionary sector—products consumers buy when they are confident about their income—which shed 35.25% of its value and is the worst-performing sector ytd. So, unless bulls, who keep betting that the US Federal Reserve will slow interest rate hikes are correct, Urban Outfitters will be dragged down with the sector, irrespective of its performance. 

Look at the stock's supply and demand as it appears on the chart.