Major Earnings Previews for the Week Ahead

January 25, 2013 by Jon C. Ogg

Earnings season is in full swing and the coming week will have many big earnings announcements. 24/7 Wall St. has provided a brief calendar showing current and ex-DJIA stocks and other major market movers or sector movers that are due to report earnings. As this is a weekly calendar, we have not only included the earnings estimates from Thomson Reuters, but we have included some color on the most major reports coming up.

Monday: Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was recovering but recent accounting issues from a buyout in China have added some concerns. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is going to be reporting what is likely the next to last quarter that Wall St. will listen to Marissa Mayer’s plan rather than pick it apart, because the stock has priced in a turnaround and the unlocking of the assets.

Tuesday: Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is showing its important fourth quarter, its money-quarter, and Wall St. again will have to decide whether it wants to chase the low margins as Jeff Bezos builds out his empire for the years 2015 to 2020. Shares were at a new all-time high yet again on Friday. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) recently handed a massive dividend hike out to investors, and even if shares have rallied they are still not overvalued compared to consensus price targets. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is close to its 52-week high, and it is days away from a new anticlotting drug launch.

Wednesday: Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) has to deal with its 787 Dreamliner grounding issues. The aerospace and defense giant’s stock has held above $74, but investors want a resolution at some point soon. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) reports on Wednesday, and the stock is still holding above $31 after a huge recovery, despite the notion that many investors were disappointed about its hyped “graph search” announcement. Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) will be on edge after disappointing Apple earnings, but Samsung’s and other Android-based phones may save the day, and may save its premium valuations.

Thursday: Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) recently was shown to be abating its price war efforts, and this may help earnings, and therefore help dividends down the road. Watch for comments on the trends in e-cigarettes.

Friday: Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) are both reporting, and Wall St. mainly looks at earnings. The big focus will be on proven and probable reserves for 2013. Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE: MRK) is set to report, and its shares are not acting the same as Pfizer, with shares well off of the 52-week high even though it has a higher dividend yield.

An abbreviated calendar is below, but keep in mind that dates and estimates may change or may already have changed. Earnings per share data is from Thomson Reuters:

Monday, January 28

Tuesday, January 29

Wednesday, January 30

Thursday, January 31

Friday, February 1

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