Suppose you want an early read on trading conditions at turf and landscape equipment company Toro (TORO -3.21%). In that case, monitoring what competitors and retailers are saying is a good idea.

Toro's competitors and retailers

Major competitors of Toro include Stanley Black & Decker (MTD Products) in residential lawn care, John Deere in golf/turf maintenance, and Deere in utility equipment. Meanwhile, Home Depot and Lowe's Companies are major lawn care equipment retailers.

As such, there isn't one magic number to watch out for, but rather a collection of data points that build a constantly evolving picture.

Where Toro stands now

The recent tumultuous trade tariff events are likely to negatively impact sales as consumers and commercial companies are likely to delay purchasing decisions under conditions of uncertainty. Indeed, back on March 6, Toro's management told investors, "We recognize the heightened level of uncertainty affecting the macro environment, including a decline in consumer confidence and rapidly evolving trade policy."

That was before the wider-scale tariffs were announced on "Liberation Day" on April 2, so it's reasonable to expect a bigger impact now. Looking ahead, Toro will release its second-quarter earnings at some point in June, but before that, Deere will release its second-quarter earnings in mid-May. After that, Home Depot and Lowe's will release earnings on May 20 and May 21, respectively.

Image source: Getty Images.

In late February, Home Depot told investors that its outdoor garden category was one of 10 of 16 categories with positive comparable sales growth in the fourth quarter of 2024. Lowe's management didn't specifically call out the outdoor garden category in its fourth-quarter earnings but said various outdoor categories, like decking, had positive comparable sales growth.

In both cases, investors should listen to what Home Depot and Lowe's say in May because they and Deere will be discussing the same environment that will guide Toro's sales trajectory in 2025.