Wall Street’s earnings caravan may be nearing the city limits, but there’s still one last strip mall to visit before the season officially shutters for the holidays. This week’s marquee acts: three bargain empires—Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Five Below—sharing the consumer check-out line with Salesforce and CrowdStrike, two tech names that increasingly double as sentiment indicators for everything from AI budgets to cyber risk appetite.
Dollar stores, deluxe macro signal
The dollar-store cohort has become a de facto readout on the health of the “strained but still swiping” U.S. consumer. Analysts are watching Dollar Tree and Dollar General to see whether trade-down trends are still strong, and whether traffic gains can keep pace with the hit from higher shrink and wage bills. A solid week from the group would reinforce the narrative that lower- and middle-income shoppers are stretching paychecks through value channels rather than closing their wallets altogether.
Five Below adds a twist to the script, straddling the line between true discounter and teen-focused impulse bazaar. Its upcoming report is expected to show healthy revenue growth, but with pressure on earnings per share as the chain invests in new stores and navigates a more promotional environment. A meaningful top-line beat paired with softer margins would fit neatly into the broader retail theme of “sales are fine, profitability is doing the heavy lifting.”
Salesforce: AI, agents, and expectations
On the tech side, Salesforce steps up midweek with what amounts to a status check on the corporate software wallet. Street forecasts call for high single-digit revenue growth and a high-teens gain in earnings per share, with particular attention on how AI products and its Agentforce strategy are translating into billings and guidance. Options pricing implies investors are braced for a sizable move in the stock, suggesting expectations are finely balanced between “AI hero” and “macro collateral damage.”
Beyond the numbers, investors will parse every comment on enterprise demand, cloud budgets, and the integration of recent deals, all of which feed into the broader debate on whether AI is adding incremental dollars or just being shuffled within existing IT lines. In a market where AI acronyms often move more quickly than cash flows, Salesforce’s tone on renewals and new logos may matter as much as the headline EPS print.
CrowdStrike and the cost of paranoia
If Salesforce measures enthusiasm for AI, CrowdStrike is this week’s barometer for the cost of corporate paranoia. The cybersecurity firm is coming off a string of quarters with revenue growth north of 20% and consistent earnings beats, cementing its status as one of the cleaner secular-growth stories in large-cap software. Consensus still bakes in robust EPS expansion over the coming year, leaving little room for a misstep on net new ARR or margin trajectory.
With geopolitical risk high and attack surfaces expanding, security spend has been one of the few IT line items that CIOs are reluctant to trim, a dynamic investors will want confirmed in commentary on renewals and platform consolidation. Any hint that deals are slipping or budgets are tightening could reverberate well beyond one ticker, given CrowdStrike’s role as a poster child for “must-have” software in a market increasingly asking which growth names are merely “nice-to-have.”
What this week is really about
Taken together, the week offers something close to a mini stress test of the U.S. economy: dollar stores for the paycheck-to-paycheck reality, Salesforce for AI-powered corporate ambition, and CrowdStrike for the non-negotiable cost of keeping it all online. Investors will be less focused on whether earnings season is “over” and more on whether these late reporters confirm the soft-landing narrative or hint at a consumer and corporate sector quietly trading down—on goods, on software, and perhaps, on valuations.
The Sources
[1] Salesforce, Marvell Technology, Dollar General, Ulta Beauty, and … https://www.barrons.com/articles/salesforce-marvell-technology-dollar-general-ulta-beauty-and-more-stocks-to-watch-this-week-c660c7b4
[2] Labor Market Data; Earnings from Salesforce, CrowdStrike, and More https://finance.yahoo.com/news/expect-markets-week-cyber-monday-100000606.html
[3] Dollar Stores Cash In As Shoppers Seek Bargains At Dollar General … https://www.itiger.com/news/2541088195
[4] Earnings Insights 3Q24, Week 7: Dollar Stores and Kroger See Growth https://coresight.com/research/earnings-insights-3q24-week-7-comp-sales-growth-for-dollar-general-dollar-tree-kroger-and-more/
[5] Top Dollar Store Stocks to Watch According to WarrenAI: Five Below … https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/top-dollar-store-stocks-to-watch-according-to-warrenai-five-below-leads-the-pack-93CH-4376091
[6] Dollar Tree Set to Report Q3 Earnings: What Surprise Awaits … https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/dollar-tree-set-report-q3-earnings-what-surprise-awaits-investors
[7] The Week Ahead: US ISM, ADP data; Salesforce earnings https://www.cmcmarkets.com/en-nz/market-news/the-week-ahead-us-ism-adp-data-salesforce-earnings
[8] Why Salesforce Q3 Earnings Will Be a Tipping Point for Agentforce https://www.salesforceben.com/why-salesforce-q3-earnings-will-be-a-tipping-point-for-agentforce/
[9] Salesforce, Inc. Common Stock (CRM) Earnings Report Date | Nasdaq https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/crm/earnings
[10] Salesforce earnings, September PCE, auto sales: What to Watch https://finance.yahoo.com/video/salesforce-earnings-september-pce-auto-220012170.html
[11] Unpacking Q2 Earnings: CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) In The … https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unpacking-q2-earnings-crowdstrike-nasdaq-033745549.html
[12] CrowdStrike (CRWD) Earnings Date and Reports 2025 – MarketBeat https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NASDAQ/CRWD/earnings/
[13] CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) Earnings Dates & Reports https://www.investing.com/equities/crowdstrike-holdings-inc-earnings
[14] CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. Class A Common Stock (CRWD) Earnings https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/crwd/earnings
[15] Wall Street Brunch: Plenty Of Earnings To Kick Off December https://seekingalpha.com/article/4848830-wall-street-brunch-plenty-of-earnings-to-kick-off-december
[16] Investors : Dollar Tree, Inc. (DLTR) https://corporate.dollartree.com/investors
[17] Dollar Tree, Inc. Reports Results for the Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 https://corporate.dollartree.com/news-media/press-releases/detail/292/dollar-tree-inc-reports-results-for-the-second-quarter
[18] Five Below, Inc. (FIVE) Stock Price, News, Quote & History https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/FIVE/
[19] What date does CrowdStrike’s (CRWD) report Earnings https://www.zacks.com/stock/research/CRWD/earnings-calendar
[20] DG v. DLTR v. FIVE: Retailer Trade Down “Really Strong” – YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_egd7GZki8
