Earnings Watch

A sampling of companies reporting quarterly earnings Wednesday, ranked by year-over-year growth, and companies due to report today, ranked by analysts’ forecast change in earnings per share (EPS) from the year--ago quarter, compiled by First Call:

Reporting Wednesday

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Pct. above/ 1997 Ticker Consensus Actual below 3rd--qtr. Company symbol EPS EPS estimate EPS Viacom VIA $0.32 $0.39 +22% $0.01 Cendant CD 0.23 0.24 +4 0.20 Aetna AET 0.95 0.96 +1 0.98 Peoples Energy PGL --0.29 --0.32 --10 --0.40 Seagram VO 0.24 0.27 +13 0.37 Loews LTR 2.38 1.76 --26 2.51 Ikon Office Sol. IKN 0.03 --0.16 NM* 0.35

Year-- over--year Company % growth Viacom NM* Cendant +20% Aetna --2 Peoples Energy --20 Seagram --27 Loews --30 Ikon Office Sol. NM*

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Reporting Today

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Ticker Consensus Year--ago Predicted Company symbol EPS estimate quarter pct. chg. HCR Manor Care HCR $0.46 $0.39 +18% United HealthCare UNH 0.66 0.57 +16 Becton Dickinson BDX 0.40 0.35 +14 Helmerich & Payne HP 0.34 0.36 --6 Mirage Resorts MIR 0.20 0.29 --31 Royal Dutch Petroleum RD 0.36 0.58 --38

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* NM = not meaningful. A loss in any period makes percentage change not calculable.

Note: Year--over--year growth and percentage changes are based on earnings--per--share figures and may differ from percentage changes based on total profit.

For more information via the Internet, check https://www.firstcall.com.