Sainsbury’s is set to report its interim results on Thursday, but what can we expect.

The supermarket chain’s share price has had a difficult year, tumbling almost 40%. However, with equities showing signs of a recovery, Sainsbury’s shares have grown almost 15% in the last month.

According to Investing.com, the company is expected to post revenue of £15.6 billion, while Bloomberg shows a consensus expectation of £16.3 billion. Furthermore, in the company’s previous trading statement, it said for the full-year 22/23, it expects profit before tax of between £630 million and £690 million.

In late October, Sainsbury’s price target was lowered to 280p from 300p at Barclays, with analyst James Anstead keeping an Overweight rating on the shares.

According to Tipranks, out of five analysts, two have Buy ratings on the stock, one has a Hold rating, and two have Sell ratings. The average price target is 229.8p.

Of course, the worry for supermarkets has been the strain on consumers’ budgets this year, with inflation soaring to 10.1%.

Retailers such as Sainsbury’s and Tesco have been feeling the full force of inflation, with Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s, stating in its last trading statement that “the pressure on household budgets will only intensify over the remainder of the year.”

Meanwhile, according to Which? Sainsbury’s was ranked the fourth cheapest supermarket for September, with its average price basket above Tescos, Morrisons, Ocado and Waitrose.

In its latest trading statement, Sainsbury’s said: “Groceries online order numbers continue to normalise as more customers return to store.” In the chart above, Semrush data shows a drop off in Sainsbury’s website visits since November 2021.