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Earnings season is upon us and so far things are shaping up either a bit better, or less-bad, than what the news reports and headlines might have led investors to believe. Next week is going to be the opening of the floodgates for earnings from major companies. We have identified the current and former Dow Jones Industrial Average companies, as well as a few “first in sector” reports, that should set the tone for their respective sectors or the overall market.

Next week’s floodgate opening will include the following top earnings reports: Citigroup (NYSE: C); International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM); Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL); Bank of America (NYSE: BAC); Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO); Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS); Intel (NASDAQ: INTC); Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ); Southern Copper (NYSE: SCCO); Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO); American Express (NYSE: AXP); AT&T (NYSE: T); Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT); General Electric (NYSE: GE); Honeywell International (NYSE: HON); McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD); and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ).

We have included earnings estimates from Thomson Reuters, included basic pricing data, and added in additional color if applicable or appropriate. There are many other important companies reporting, which had to unfortunately be skipped.

Monday, October 17

Citigroup (NYSE: C) will report Monday morning. It was hit with the banks this last Thursday after the JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) report and again we want to stress that the book value discussions for this last quarter effectively do not matter for the time being. Thomson Reuters has estimates for the former DJIA component of $0.82 EPS and $19.25 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.90 EPS and $19.32 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $28.40, its 52-week trading range is $21.40 to $51.50 and analysts have a consensus price target of $45.77.

International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) after the close. Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $3.22 EPS and $26.25 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $4.63 EPS and $30.31 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $190.50, effectively an all-time high and analysts have a consensus price target objective of almost $192.00.

Tuesday, October 18

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is due Tuesday afternoon and its estimates are $7.28 EPS and $29.45 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $8.98 EPS and $36.63 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $422.00, its 52-week trading range is $297.76 to $422.86 and analysts have a consensus price target of $498.80. Apple rallied on the heels of Google, the news of Steve Jobs has been absorbed, and shares went within one-dollar of the all-time high.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is due Tuesday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.20 EPS and $25.95 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.19 EPS and $24.16 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $6.19, its 52-week trading range is $5.13 to $15.31 and analysts have a consensus price target of $10.44. Keep in mind that this trades at a huge discount to the book value because investors worry that the book value is only going to drop through time. Is it fair to ask if estimates have come down enough over the last ninety days?

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) is due Tuesday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $1.02 EPS and $12.02 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.80 EPS and $11.05 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $67.85, its 52-week trading range is $59.74 to $71.77 and analysts have a consensus price target of $76.69.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is also due Tuesday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates of -$0.15 EPS and $4.59 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $2.97 EPS and $7.99 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $96.73, its 52-week trading range is $84.27 to $175.34 and analysts have a consensus price target of $147.41. After the Citi downgrade to expect a loss for the quarter, we cannot help but say that the bar has been set extremely low here. A week earlier the estimate was close to $0.50 EPS, and the estimate was well above $1.00 EPS a month ago.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) reports Tuesday after the close and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.61 EPS and $13.9 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.65 EPS and $14.3 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $23.50, its 52-week trading range is $18.90 to $23.96 and analysts have a consensus price target of $25.55. With all of the slowing PC woes and with Intel still not full swing into the tablet and smartphone segments, it has been surprising that shares are this close to a 52-week high. Still, its dividend is above 3.5% and it trades at a solid discount to the market.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) reports on Tuesday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $1.21 EPS and $16.02 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $1.11 EPS and $16.47 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $64.70, its 52-week trading range is $57.50 to $68.05 and analysts have a consensus price target of $72.08.

Southern Copper (NYSE: SCCO) is due on Tuesday and won’t be a market mover but could give more insight into copper after the reports of China copper inventories being so high. Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.83 EPS and $1.88 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.74 EPS and $1.67 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $28.30, its 52-week trading range is $22.58 to $50.35 and analysts have a consensus price target of $37.64.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is due on Tuesday afternoon and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.17 EPS and $1.07 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.22 EPS and $1.22 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $15.90 on hopes of a buyout, its 52-week trading range is $11.09 to $18.84 and analysts have a consensus price target of $17.54. Earnings estimates have not come down much at all even since the Carol Bartz firing. We find that odd because the timing of her ouster would logically mean that the quarter was awful. With the mayhem here, we have no further color to add on the hoped-for buyout, Alibaba, Yahoo! Japan, and other issues.

Wednesday, October 19

American Express (NYSE: AXP) will be the only DJIA component we saw due on Wednesday afternoon. Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.96 EPS and $7.58 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.97 EPS and $7.95 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $46.00, its 52-week trading range is $38.75 to $53.80 and analysts have a consensus price target of $56.90.

Thursday, October 20

AT&T (NYSE: T) is due Thursday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.61 EPS and $31.62 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.58 EPS and $31.71 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $29.15, its 52-week trading range is $27.20 to $31.94 and analysts have a consensus price target of $32.33. With the current bias being against approval of the T-Mobile operations, we will be looking for guidance on that front. Other than that, investors have close to a 6% dividend yield.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is due Thursday afternoon and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.68 EPS and $17.25 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.84 EPS and $21.21 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $27.27, its 52-week trading range is $23.65 to $29.46 and analysts have a consensus price target of $31.90. The dividend is now close to 3% but investors are still concerned about the PC market causing a slower upgrade cycle for Windows.

Friday, October 21

General Electric (NYSE: GE) is due Friday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.31 EPS and $34.86 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.40 EPS and $39.54 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $16.60, its 52-week trading range is $14.02 to $21.65 and analysts have a consensus price target of $21.00. Friday’s closing price was the highest adjusted closing price since August 3 and shares have recovered more than $2.58 from the lows of October 4.

Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) is due Friday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.00 EPS and $9.26 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $1.08 EPS and $9.64 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $49.50, its 52-week trading range is $41.22 to $62.28 and analysts have a consensus price target of $58.47.

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is due Friday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $1.43 EPS and $7.01 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $1.27 EPS and $6.73 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $89.95, its 52-week trading range is $72.14 to $91.22 and analysts have a consensus price target of $97.90.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is set to report earnings on Friday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.57 EPS and $27.91 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.58 EPS and $28.29 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $37.33, its 52-week trading range is $31.60 to $38.95 and analysts have a consensus price target of $38.61. The only issues we can really bring up worth addressing here is whether or not the labor strike had any impact at all on operations.

JON C. OGG