24/7 Wall St. has compiled detailed earnings previews for the following companies: Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS); Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA); ADTRAN Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN); Host Hotels and Resorts Inc. (NYSE: HST); Pepsico Inc. (NYSE: PEP); Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG); J. B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT); J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM); Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY); and Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT).

Some of these companies will not really seem on the surface to be sector-movers or market-moving companies, but these have been selected because they are the first ones of their peer groups to be reporting earnings. 

We have created a detailed earnings preview for each with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters and added color in on each for investors to see what exactly is worth consideration this earnings season.  We have also added in recent price history and named where to look for additonal action (or fallout).

Monday, October 10

Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) is the first chip equipment player to report for this earnings season.  it has been a few weeks since we have had earnings reports or guidance in the sector so we will be paying close attention since so many companies that are chip equipment customers have talked down their numbers in recent weeks.  Our belief is that expectations are very low for the quarter ahead. Estimates are $0.68 EPS and $311.9 million in revenue; next quarter estimates are $0.50 EPS and $278.5 million in revenue.  With shares hovering around $30.00 on Friday, the 52-week range is $25.26 to $41.82 and shares were above $36 in early July.  After Novellus reports, we would be watching the following: Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT), KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC), and Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX).

Tuesday, October 11

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) has already talked down aluminum prices and we have already seen slowing demand out of China talked about by many sectors.  Alcoa keeps maintaining that it can double its business by 2020 and we do not expect that to be changed by management even if it guides lower expectations ahead.  Estimates are $0.23 EPS and $6.24 billion in revenue; next quarter estimates are $0.23 EPS and $6.11 billion in revenue. At $9.80 on Friday, the 52-week range is $8.45 to $19.47 and this one was above $16 at the start of July.  There are many metals stocks to watch, some in aluminum and some in other metals: Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX), Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS); Kaiser Aluminum Corporation (NASDAQ: KALU); Titanium Metals Corporation (NYSE: TIE); and Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE).

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDRX) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Choice Hotels (NYSE: CHH) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
KiOR, Inc. (NASDAQ: KIOR) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Cut to Neutral at Baird; Maintained Neutral but cut target to $12 at Credit Suisse; Maintained Buy with $22 target at Argus.
Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. (NYSE: OSG) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank; Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. (NASDAQ: PFCB) Cut to Sell at Argus.
Rowan Companies (NYSE: RDC) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. (NYSE: SKH) Started as Underperform at BofA/ML.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) Reiterated Buy with $35 target at Argus.
Yandex N. V. (NASDAQ: YNDX) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.

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JON C. OGG

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (NASDAQ: AMCC) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday).
AU Optronics Corp. (NYSE: AUO) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.
Clean Energy Fuels Corporation (NASDAQ: CLNE) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) Reiterated Buy with $30 target at Argus.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
HollyFrontier Corporation (NYSE: HFC) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MHP) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Montpelier Re Holdings (NYSE: MRH) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) Started as Buy with $58 target at Argus.
United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG

The top earnings reports due in the coming week are from Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA), Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS), ADTRAN Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN), Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR), Novagold Resources Inc. (NYSE: NG), Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: CBST), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), J B Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C), and Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT).

We have added color on each of these reports, along with showing trading data, Thomson Reuters estimates, and more.

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) is due to report Monday and acts as the unofficial kick-off for earnings season.  It was one of those top 15 reports to follow for all of the summer earnings trends.  Estimates are $0.34 EPS and $6.32 billion in revenues; estimates for the next report are $0.34 EPS and $6.33 billion in revenues.  Shares are now trading around $16.17 and the 52-week trading range is $9.92 to $18.47.  With sowing in Japan and China, we will be giving Alcoa more or less “a pass” on the last quarter as long as it is not atrocious.  Mainly, investors need to focus on just how much of a bounce in orders are coming right now.  This has been a takeover-rumor stock as well, but we are not going to try to deal with the reality of that possibility. This one also made our value screen for the metals sector on Friday.

Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) reports on Monday and it is usually not a sector mover with its $3.2 billion market cap.  Estimates are $0.76 EPS and $352.3 million in revenues; estimates for the next report are $0.87 EPS and $363 million in revenues.  Shares are now trading around $35.89 and the 52-week trading range is $22.88 to $41.82.  Why we care is that it is the first of the equipment makers for circuits and chips to report, and it is frequent that investors try to look for cause and effect in the rest of tech.

ADTRAN Inc. (NASDAQ: ADTN) reports on Wednesday and will lead off the telecom and communications equipment makers in its report.  Estimates are $0.53 EPS and $179.4 million in revenues; estimates for the next report are $0.55 EPS and $187.2 million in revenues.  Shares are now trading around $41.98 and the 52-week trading range is $27.55 to $47.60.  Just like Novellus, analysts and traders will possibly look for cause and effect in its peers.  Keep in mind, its market cap is a mere $2.7 billion and these companies in the space are now subject to what we call “good hits and bad misses” in earnings.

Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) reports this coming Wednesday and estimates are $0.37 EPS and $3.02 billion in revenues; estimates for the next report are $0.30 EPS and $2.88 billion in revenues.  Shares are now trading around $36.70 and the 52-week trading range is $29.80 to $42.56. With hotel rates running strong, it is hard to not notice that this stock is right in the middle of its 52-week trading range.

Novagold Resources Inc. (NYSE: NG) is due Wednesday and is more Canadian than U.S., but investors will try to use it as a bogey for the gold mining stocks as it is into exploration for gold, zinc, silver and other minerals.  Its market cap is only $2.3 billion.  As a reminder, Novagold was one of our fresh value hunt stocks as it is among the most sold-off gold stocks.  Estimates are in Canada and not widely followed in America.

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) estimates are $0.61 EPS and $2.70 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.84 EPS and $3.03 billion in revenues. Shares are now trading around $55.13 and the 52-week trading range is $38.43 to $57.04.  Yum! is really about China, and many are now using Yum!’s China market comments to try to make determinations about the discretionary spending for China’s consumer spending market.

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Central European Media Enterprises (NASDAQ: CETV) Started at Hold at Jefferies.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Started as Neutral at Gleacher & Co.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Started as Neutral at Cowen.
Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Reiterated Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Niska Gas Storage Partners LLC (NYSE: NKA) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC Capital.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Reiterated Outperform and $40 target at Credit Suisse; Maintained Buy and raised target to $42 at Gleacher & Co.
Universal Tech Institute Inc. (NYSE: UTI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) Started as Outperform at Macquarie.

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JON C. OGG

Perhaps the biggest scams out there were the instant messenger scams taking place during the financial meltdown. Unfortunately, it was on all of the major banks and on all of the major brokerage firms.  So what others are there?  Companies to the tune of Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Emulex Corporation (NYSE: ELX), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS), WCI Communities and more have found themselves as hoax victims.  AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR), the parent of American Airlines, and Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) appear to both be in the midst of a hoax (or a serious stretch) just this week.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) had a big hoax going back to when Alcatel was Alcatel and when Lucent was Lucent.  Back in early 2000, a man named Fred Moldofsky was arrested and charged in Houston for posting a fake press release on the Yahoo! Finance message boards. Moldofsky’s fake press release noted that Lucent expected operating results for the second quarter of 2000 to be lower than consensus analyst estimates. What caught people was that the press release was modeled after a previous warning from Lucent.  This was back during the tech bubble and the move was when the stock was back in the $60′s but it still took out some $7.1 billion in share value.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been the subject of many not-so-fake Steve Jobs health issues as you already know.  But one rumor was floating around about a Steve Jobs heart attack and rush to the hospital on October 3, 2008.  The news story was run on CNN’s iReport, a user-generated content site, and was then picked up at other news outlets before the company said it was a fake.  What was so sad outside of the impact on an already-ill Steve Jobs is that shares were weak going into the rumor. On October 1 shares closed at $109.12, then at $100.10 on October 2, and shares had risen on October 3 to $106.50 before the rumor surfaced.  Shares hit a low of $94.65 that day and the stock closed at $97.07.  It was close to a drop of 10% in about 10 minutes, worth close to $10 billion in market value destroyed.  Shares stayed under $100 until mid-October after earnings brought the stock from $96.80 to $110.26.  This one did not kill long-term holders in Apple, but imagine how many investors were shaken out and imagine how many investors got caught short here. 

Emulex Corporation (NYSE: ELX) was a hoax back in 2000 during the day trader and tech-boom craze that changed how news gets reported.  In mid-2000, Emulex suddenly took a massive dive south after a press release from Internet Wire hit the wires and news screens.  The release said that Emulex’s CEO was stepping down, earnings guidance was being lowered, and contained news of an SEC investigation. The problem is that the news was fake, and was nothing more than a short seller who was a former Internet Wire employee named Mark Jakob who manipulated the stock.  Nonetheless, shares fell from north of $100.00 to under $50.00 in one day, then started screaming back up when it was announced to be fake.  The SEC halted trading in Emulex and busted all sorts of long and short transactions.  This single event cost traders millions and millions and wiped out many emerging trading careers. The Emulex Hoax was punished with a prison sentence of nearly 4 years and serious fines.

Can you imagine someone with the pockets deep enough to acquire General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE)?  It is almost impossible to believe, even during the financial meltdown.  What is amazing is that someone tried to not just issue a fake GE buyout, but this person claimed to be making a tender offer for the biggest companies in America at that time.  So what about a $2 trillion tender offer?  Some guy named Ade Ogunjobi created a company called Toks with the tender offers for something like 15 of the largest companies.  He was effectively claiming that he wanted to acquire General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) when it was the old AT&T, and News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS).  He even tried to sell $100,000.00 in securities to help fund the new company.  This jokester had no credentials to run any of those individually and certainly none of them in combination.  Needless to say, he was sued by the SEC and this deal could have never happened.  The lesson here is that this proved to be illegal as investors of any size are not allowed to issue public tenders and cannot make acquisition offers if they cannot afford the transaction.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) named as Bull of the Day with Outperform rating at Zacks.
Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ: CPRT) Started as Buy at BofA/ML.
DuPont (NYSE: DD) Reiterated Buy and raised $62 target at BofA/ML.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) Reiterated Buy with $100 target at Argus.
GSI Commerce, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSIC) removed from coverage at BofA/ML.
Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Owens-Illinois, Inc. (NYSE: OI) Raised to Outperform with $36 target at Credit Suisse.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) Raised to Outperform with $65 target at Credit Suisse.
The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UTI) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Raised to Outperform with $36 target at Credit Suisse.
XL Group plc (NYSE: XL) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.  

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JON C. OGG

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Central European Distribution Corporation (NASDAQ: CEDC) Started as Buy at Nomura.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Started as Buy at B. Riley.
Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Reiterated Buy and $46 target at Argus.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) Maintained Hold at Argus.
Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTR) Started as Neutral at BofA/ML.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Sonus Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONS) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday call).
Universal Forest Products Inc. (NASDAQ: UFPI) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Started as Buy at B. Riley.

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JON C. OGG

Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) and Green Mountain are close to a strategic partnership (Reuters)

A court in Ecuador ordered Chevron (NYSE: CVX) to pay $8.6 billion in environmental damage. (Reuters)

China’s inflation slowed recently (Reuters)

The Bank of Japan held rates steady but signaled the economy was improving (Reuters)

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) will offer its Playbook with 4G capacity (Reuters)

Investors are nervous about Dell’s (NASDAQ: DELL) margins ahead of its earnings (Reuters)

Sanofit-Aventis and Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ) are still battling over a takeover price (Reuters)

Public pension funds largely ignored what banks charged for currency trades (WSJ)

Fewer private equity firms use hostile bids when trying to takeover public companies (WSJ)

Wall St firms did not make large profits on commodities because they missed signs that prices would rise (WSJ)

Marriott will rid itself of its time-share business (WSJ)

Fedex (NYSE: FDX) cut its earnings forecasts due to poor weather and rising fuel prices (WSJ)

GE (NYSE: GM) released its plans for employee profit-sharing (WSJ)

Growth of the German economy remained strong (WSJ)

GM (NYSE: GM) will release a new line-up of cars in China (WSJ)

The use of web-video rose in large part due to the increase in demand for Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) streaming video (WSJ)

LG said its handset sales would rise as global smartphone sales expand (WSJ)

Cities are raising taxes to offset lower budget contributions from states (WSJ)

The Obama budget would keep deficit spending at high levels for many years (WSJ)

The IMF said Asia would need to fight inflation with currency adjustments that would allow more flexibility in price (WSJ)

The EU will probably increase the size of its bailout fund (WSJ)

The rise of Facebook is damaging its relationship with companies like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) (WSJ)

Huawei will need to sell assets of an American firm it bought recently a government panel said (WSJ)

The Archives of Internal Medicine said that many medical devices which have been recalled did not get initial proper screening (WSJ)

Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) has tried to take advantage of Amazon.com’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) disputes with states over income taxes by soliciting Amazon’s partners to move to the book firm’s website (WSJ)

There is a shortage of vegetables in the US because of cold weather in Mexico (WSJ)

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) is strengthening its relationship with Facebook as its own social media plans falter (WSJ)

Silicon Valley Network and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation found that the pay has not improved in the region (WSJ)

Investors Bruce R. Berkowitz and Charles M. Fernandez resigned from the board of St. Joe less than two months after joining (WSJ)

Large companies have begun to raise prices as commodities prices rise (NYT)

More airlines cancel flights well ahead of bad weather (NYT)

The Obama budget aims to reform corporate taxes and reduce loop holes (FT)

GE (NYSE: GE) will try to sell its container leasing program (FT)

The SEC wants states and municipalities to disclose more about potential trouble  (FT)

PIMCO has cut its holdings of US paper (FT)

China inflation rose sharply when food prices were eliminated (Bloomberg)

Lending in China rose which increased concerns about inflation (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Anadigics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANAD) Raised to Buy at Needham.
ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Reiterated Buy and target raised to $115 at Goldman Sachs.
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: LSCC) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Penn National Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE: HOT) Started as Buy at Jefferies
Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) Cut to Neutral at Baird; Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Cut to Hold at Soleil.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG