Next week on the stock market

ASOS has had a tough start to the year. Business transformation plans remain on track, but improving stock efficiency and reducing inventory levels comes at a cost. Full-year guidance remains unchanged, which includes 5-15% sales declines and positive cash generation. We’ll be looking for signs that better times are coming and that a return to growth in the final quarter of this year is still on the cards.

Active customer numbers will also be in the spotlight. It’s no secret M&S and Next have been growing sales in the third-party brands ASOS is known for, and newer entrants like Temu continue to be a threat. Ultimately, we’re looking for signs that the increased marketing spend and stock rationalisation are being well received by its target audience of fashion-loving 20-somethings.

It’s been a tough start to the year for Entain shareholders, and expectations for the Ladbrokes owner seem about as low as they can get. Shares have been under pressure, and markets are expecting little to no underlying growth until 2025. The valuation seemingly gives little credit to growth opportunities.

After a buying spree from the now-former CEO, Jette Nygaard-Andersen, Entain is refocused on organic growth. We’ll be looking for commentary in next week’s first-quarter trading update on what that means for some of the overseas assets that aren’t quite pulling their weight, and there’s an expectation that some asset sales could be on the cards.

There’s rightly some negative sentiment in the air with regulatory headwinds expected to hit profits in the coming year, no permanent CEO and increased US competition impacting the BetMGM joint venture. But from a low base, it won’t take much to reignite the flame.

Netflix had a blockbuster fourth quarter, with subscriber numbers beating expectations and margin guidance upgraded. The media giant signalled hopes of double-digit growth in revenue for the year, with the market expecting growth of 13.6% in the first quarter.

Helping that figure along should be expansion in Netflix’s cheaper ad-supported plan. This is starting from a much lower base, meaning there’s more room to run. Password sharing crackdowns have also been bearing fruit, and there should still be some juice left to squeeze, but the benefits are finite, so we’ll be looking for commentary around that.

As ever, it’s subscriber growth and churn rate that have the potential to move the dial next week. There’s cautious optimism that attraction and retention of viewers will hold Netflix in good stead, but as ever, there are no guarantees.

The rate of growth at LVMH has slowed down, amid economic uncertainty and stalling growth in Asia. This led to the market being disappointed by the group’s nine-month performance back in October.

That said, growth has still been impressive by most standards. Revenue has still been climbing in the mid-teens on a percentage basis, and core brands including Louis Vuitton are being well received. The market will be looking for more of the same in next week’s figures. More detailed information on the outlook would also go down well, as there has been fairly little detail to go off.

The market is expecting a slowdown to get worse before it gets better this year, but any particularly difficult estimates would likely send waves through the valuation.