As top grocer Tesco prepares to unveil full-year results a week on Tuesday, it finds its prospects for continued success increasingly under question.

Goldman Sachs recently issued a sell note, doubts have been expressed about the viability of Tesco’s audacious launch in the US and UK performance has been questioned.

Bernstein this week welcomed Tesco’s showing in the latest TNS four-week market share data and said: “While sales growth on the prior year was aided by the timing of Easter, we see its return to market outperformance in the most recent period as encouraging.”

Panmure Gordon, advising buy, said recent underperformance “risks substantial downgrades to long-term earnings expectations”, but concluded: “We expect it will get its act together and the consequences for its competition will be severe.”

Looking forward to the results, underweight JP Morgan noted: “We will be most interested in any comments on initiatives being undertaken to reignite sales traction in the UK – in particular, pricing.”