5 Stocks Investors Must Watch in the Week Ahead

March 15, 2015 by Chris Lange

Stocks took a break from the six-year-old bull market last week. Still, investors want to own stocks, and they have aggressively bought every single sell-off for almost three years. 24/7 Wall St. has generated four earnings previews that investors will be watching closely in the week ahead.

We also covered one key biotech, making the list of must-watch stocks only five for the week ahead.

Also, all eyes will be on the FOMC meeting that starts Tuesday and ends on Wednesday. Will Fed Chair Yellen telegraph a rate hike or patience?

Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) will report its fiscal third-quarter earnings Tuesday after the markets close. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $0.69 in earnings per share (EPS) and $9.49 billion in revenue. In the third quarter of the previous year, the tech giant posted EPS of $0.68 and $9.32 billion in revenue. Shares were up 1.8% at $42.38 as Friday’s trading session came to a close. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $45.43 and a 52-week trading range of $35.82 to $46.71.

ALSO READ: 8 Oil and Gas Stocks Analysts Want You to Buy

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) will report its fiscal second-quarter earnings Tuesday after the markets close. Consensus estimates call for EPS of $0.39 and $1.08 billion in revenue. In the second quarter of the previous year, Adobe posted $0.30 in EPS on revenue of $1.00 billion. Adobe shares closed up fractionally at $77.62. The stock has a consensus price target of $84.67. Its 52-week trading range is $57.15 to $80.30.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) is set to report its fiscal third-quarter earnings Wednesday before the markets open. The consensus estimates are $1.87 in EPS and revenue of $11.79 billion. In the year-ago quarter, FedEx reported $1.23 in EPS and $11.30 billion in revenue. Shares of FedEx ended the week at $173.72, barely down on the day. The consensus price target is $190.33, and the 52-week trading range is $130.64 to $183.51.

Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) will report its fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday after the markets close. The consensus estimates are $0.15 in EPS, as well as $151.58 million in revenue. In the same quarter of the previous year, the company had $0.27 in EPS and $167.42 million in revenue. Silver Wheaton shares closed up 1.5% at $18.85. The consensus price target is $25.97. Shares have traded between $16.57 and $27.66 in the past year.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) is perhaps the most leveraged potential mover in the week ahead, due to the news flow around its cholesterol drug data from the weekend’s 2015 Cardiology Conference in San Diego. With shares changing hands at $429.38 at the end of Friday’s trading session, the market cap of Regeneron is now over $43 billion, and the 52-week range is $269.50 to $437.64. Regeneron was a $50 stock just over three years ago, and expectations are high — analysts see 26% revenue growth in 2015 and 21% revenue growth in 2016. Options trading out to August shows a speculative spread running close to $80 combined for the two closest out of the money strike prices ($430 call and $425 put).

ALSO READ: 5 Highly Unusual Stock Moves of the Past Week

Several key issues for equity investors have also been featured this weekend:

Other than that, the week’s main economic reports will be as follows:

  • Monday: Empire manufacturing
  • Monday: Industrial production
  • Monday: Housing market index
  • Tuesday: Housing starts
  • Thursday: Weekly jobless claims
  • Thursday: Philly Fed
  • Thursday: Leading indicators
  • Friday: Quadruple witching day (options and futures)

ALSO READ: 8 Analyst Stocks Under $10 With Massive Upside Calls

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