Earnings season is in full swing and we have a back-breaker of an earnings week ahead of us.  There are some 11 DJIA components reporting earnings and a whole slew of other major market-movers and sector-movers on deck as well.  We have compiled previews for the following: American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP); Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN); McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD); VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW); 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM); EMC Corp. (N
YSE: EMC); Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ); Juniper Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR); Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ); Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO); Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA); ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP); Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX); QUALCOMM Inc. (NYSE: QCOM); Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX); United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX); Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO); Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN); AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT); Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT); Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG); and finally SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK).

MONDAY JAN 24, 2011

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) is up as the king of credit cards and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.95 EPS and $7.33 billion in revenues. American Express  gave guidance that was deemed as a warning, so the rest of any commentary may be moot.  At $46.00, shares were just under $40.00 less than 90-days ago and the 52-week range is $36.60 to $49.19. One thing to consider: that guidance may have set expectations very low.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) is up as the largest independent biotech and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.10 EPS and $3.8 billion in revenues; for the next quarter estimates are $1.31 EPS and $3.67 billion in revenues. At $56.97 shares are actually down slightly from 90-days ago and we expect that analysts will have to chime in as it is getting closer to the higher part of a multi-year trading band.  Analysts still have a $65.59 target, but the 52-week range is $50.26 to $61.26.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is up as the king of fast food and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.15 EPS and $6.21 billion in revenues; for the next quarter estimates are $1.09 EPS and $5.87 billion in revenues.  McDonald’s peaked at $80.94 back on December 7, 2010 and shares are actually lower than they were just 90 days ago with a $75.01 close and the 52-week trading range is $62.39 to $80.94.  The ongoing concern here is always “How long can they keep growing those same-store sales like that?”  That being said, stay tuned.

VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) is up as the virtualization leader and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.44 EPS and $803.54 million in revenues; for the next quarter estimates are $0.41 EPS and $783.7 million in revenues.  AT $90.66, the 52-week range is $41.30 to $97.61.  The F5 Networks news took away some oomph from the stock here and this still trades at more than 50-times DEC-2011 fiscal earnings estimates.