Investors, Already Weary of Warnings, Brace for Reports
Earnings-reporting season begins in earnest this week, and a flood of results from high-profile companies is set to the hit the Street and paint a gloomy picture of profit growth as the U.S. economy slows from its once torrid pace. A slew of corporate icons warned last year that quarterly results will land shy of estimates amid a slowing economy. The steady flow of ugly news has helped prepare investors for what will likely be a glum earnings season, experts say. A mind-boggling array of businesses, including General Motors, J.P. Morgan Chase, Microsoft, Eastman Kodak, Bank of America, Intel and Delta Air Lines are expected to release their quarterly results this week and possibly offer a glimpse into the rest of 2001. The market is expected to take sour news in stride and could rally on any bright forecasts amid a lackluster economy. Meanwhile, results from technology bellwether IBM, also due this week, might sidestep the brunt of slowdowns hitting its rivals, analysts said. (Reuters)
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Quarterly Earnings
A sample of companies expected to report this week:
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Day Company Estimated EPS Year-ago EPS Tuesday Bank of America 0.86 1.23 Citigroup 0.65 0.56 Golden State Bancorp 0.63 0.59 Intel 0.38 0.35 Rockwell 0.68 0.81 Southwest Airlines 0.28 0.18 Washington Mutual 0.91 0.82 Wells Fargo 0.65 0.58 Wednesday Advance Micro Devices 0.55 0.22 Apple Computer -0.65 0.50 AMR 0.31 0.57 Boeing 0.91 0.74 City National 0.68 0.60 Continental Air 0.58 0.42 Eastman Kodak 0.68 1.27 General Motors 1.12 1.86 Harley-Davidson 0.29 0.24 I2 Technologies 0.08 0.05 IBM 1.46 1.12 JP Morgan Chase 0.45 1.31 US Airways -1.05 -0.68 Visx 0.16 0.38 Thursday Altera 0.26 0.16 BeBe Stores 0.47 0.49 Boise Cascade 0.22 0.70 Caterpillar 0.64 0.67 Delta Air Lines 0.62 1.22 Duke Energy 0.88 0.81 EBay 0.07 0.02 Ford Motor 0.64 0.83 Jacobs Engineering 0.74 0.68 KLA-Tencor 0.55 0.26 Microsoft 0.47 0.47 Robert Mondavi 0.92 0.82 Nortel 0.26 0.22 PG&E; 0.40 0.81 Sears 1.86 1.98 Sun Microsystems 0.16 0.11 UAL -3.84 1.91
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*EPS: Earnings per share
Source: First Call/Thomson Financial
