Earnings Preview: Nike Inc, KB Home, and Accenture Plc

Earnings season has all but come and gone, but a few notable names remain on the docket. Tomorrow, for example, athletic apparel king Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), construction issue KB Home (NYSE:KBH), and consulting firm Accenture Plc (NYSE:ACN) will each offer up their quarterly numbers. Below, we'll take the pre-earnings temperature of NKE, KBH, and ACN.

• NKE is scheduled to tell all after the close on Thursday -- ahead of this rival's trip to the confessional -- and based on the stock's near-term at-the-money (ATM) straddle, the market anticipates a single-day post-earnings move of 4.2%. Looking back eight quarters, this expected swing is in line with what's transpired historically. Ahead of the event, option traders have been betting bearishly on Nike Inc, based on data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). Specifically, the stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio across those exchanges is 1.18 -- just 2 percentage points from an annual peak. This, despite NKE's nearly 21% year-to-date advance to hover near $116.07. Should the company top estimates tomorrow night, it could lift the stock above its all-time high of $117.72, notched in early August.


• KBH will report earnings bright and early tomorrow, and the options market is pricing in a roughly 10% move in the subsequent session, based on the stock's near-term ATM straddle. This projected move is sharper than usual. Over the past eight quarters, KB Home has swung 7.5%, on average, in the session adjacent to the company's quarterly report. Heading into the event, the shares have struggled. Despite being up 2.5% today at $14.60, the stock is sitting on a nearly 12% year-to-date deficit. Accordingly, option traders have been piling on the bearish bandwagon, per data from the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX. Specifically, KBH's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 8.17 sits a mere 2 percentage points from an annual high. Likewise, the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.87 ranks in the 88th percentile of all readings taken in the prior year.


• Finally, ACN's short-term ATM straddle indicates the options market is pricing in a 4% move, following the firm's Thursday morning trip to the confessional. This is a slightly bigger move than usual; the stock's average post-event swing, looking back eight quarters, is 3.6%. On the charts, Accenture Plc sports a solid 9.6% year-to-date gain at $97.92 -- though it's also struggled to topple its 20-week moving average for more than a month. Speculators are tilted in a slightly bearish direction, per data from the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX. In particular, ACN's 10-day put/call volume ratio across those exchanges is 1.35 -- in the 60th percentile of its 12-month range.