Earnings Preview for Jul 6 - 10

Second-quarter earnings season "officially" starts on Wednesday afternoon with Alcoa's (AA - Snapshot Report) report. The aluminum producer is expected to have lost 34 cents per share.

Joining AA will be 18 other companies, including Family Dollar (FDO - Snapshot Report) and Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG - Analyst Report).

Analysts are forecasting a 21% drop in median S&P 500 earnings. The actual decline could be far smaller, especially given that 18 of the 23 companies to report so far have topped expectations.

The economic calendar is pretty light this week. The most notable reports will be the ISM services index and the preliminary University of Michigan July consumer confidence survey.

• Monday: June ISM services index
• Wednesday: May Consumer credit, weekly crude inventories
• Thursday: May wholesale inventories, initial jobless claims
• Friday: July University of Michigan consumer confidence survey (preliminary), June import and export prices, May trade balance

Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke will speak at the FDIC's Interagency Minority Depository Institutions National Conference on Thursday morning.

We won't see the bulk of earnings news until the latter half of the month. Therefore, I expect another light volume week with more range-bound trading.

Companies That Could Issue Positive Earnings Surprises

3Com (COMS - Analyst Report) has topped expectations for 4 consecutive quarters. The average margin of surprise has been 3 cents per share. Though the fiscal fourth-quarter consensus earnings estimate is unchanged at 4 cents per share, there have been several signs of improving conditions for the tech sector. 3Com is scheduled to report on Thursday, Jul 9, before the start of trading.

Early last month, Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG - Analyst Report) raised its second-quarter guidance by 5 cents to between 70 and 74 cents per share. The company credited improved sales of carbonated beverages and a more stable dollar. Most of the covering analysts promptly raised their forecasts soon after, though 1 analyst adjusted his forecast within the past few days. Cumulatively, these revisions have pushed the consensus earnings estimate 4 cents higher to 73 cents per share. PBG has topped expectations during 3 out of the last 4 quarters. Pepsi Bottling Group is scheduled to report on Wednesday, Jul 8, before the start of trading.

Charles Rotblut, CFA is the senior market analyst for Zacks.com.

Earnings Calendar

Here is a list of companies that we have confirmed will report during the week of Jul 6 - Jul 10¹. Prices are as of Wednesday's, Jul 1, market close.

Company	Stock	Zacks Estimate	Year Ago EPS	Last Qtr Surprise	Date	Time	Price
International Speedway	ISCA - Snapshot Report	$0.31	$0.54	(9.7%)	7/7	BTO	$25.95
Kayne Andsn Egy	KED - Snapshot Report	$0.36	N/A	N/A	7/7	AMC	$13.29
Schulman(A) Inc	SHLM - Snapshot Report	$0.09	$0.42	(999.0%)	7/7	AMC	$15.77
Alcoa Inc	AA - Snapshot Report	($0.34)	$0.71	(7.3%)	7/8	AMC	$10.35
Family Dollar	FDO - Snapshot Report	$0.59	$0.46	0.0%	7/8	BTO	$28.19
Nu Horizons Ele	NUHC - Snapshot Report	($0.10)	$0.06	(7.7%)	7/8	AMC	$3.20
Pepsi Bottling	PBG - Analyst Report	$0.73	$0.78	100.0%	7/8	BTO	$34.00
Rodman&Ren Cap	RODM - Snapshot Report	$0.00	$0.18	(71.4%)	7/8	BTO	$1.20
Ruby Tuesday	RT - Snapshot Report	$0.20	$0.27	136.4%	7/8	AMC	$6.75
Wd 40 Co	WDFC - Snapshot Report	$0.37	$0.49	-7.41%	7/8	AMC	$29.90
3Com Corp	COMS - Analyst Report	$0.04	$0.06	62.5%	7/9	BTO	$4.88
Calamp Corp	CAMP - Analyst Report	($0.17)	$0.01	16.7%	7/9	AMC	$0.80
Fcstone Grp Inc	FCSX	($0.09)	$0.44	100.7%	7/9	BTO	$4.15
Lawson Software	LWSN - Analyst Report	$0.09	$0.09	28.6%	7/9	AMC	$5.75
Shaw Group Inc	SGR	$0.59	$0.70	26.7%	7/9	AMC	$27.19
Tortoise Cap Rs	TTO - Snapshot Report	$0.10	$0.67	(81.3%)	7/9	N/A	$4.20
Corel Corp	CREL - Analyst Report	$0.16	$0.29	(15.0%)	7/10	BTO	$2.45
Infosys Tec-Adr	INFY - Analyst Report	$0.47	$0.53	0.0%	7/10	BTO	$37.33
Pricesmart Inc	ZEP - Snapshot Report	$0.35	$0.33	N/A	7/10	BTO	$17.25

BTO = Before The Market Open, AMC = After The Market Close

¹Some of the companies listed in the earnings calendar may not be in the Zacks Rank universe.