Earnings Preview for Sep 8 - 11

It's a relatively quiet week on the earnings front with only 50 companies scheduled to report, including a smattering of retailers and food companies. Only 2 S&P 500 members are on tap to report including Campbell Soup Co. (CPB - Analyst Report) and National Semiconductor (NSM - Analyst Report).

The economic calendar is also quiet to start the first "real" trading week in September, as Wall Street comes back from August vacations. It's a shortened trading week due to the Labor Day holiday on Monday.

• Monday: Markets closed for Labor Day
• Tuesday: ICSC-Goldman Store Sales, Redbook
• Wednesday: Beige Book
• Thursday: International trade, weekly jobless claims, weekly natural gas inventories, weekly crude inventories
• Friday: Import and export prices, University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey for September, Treasury budget

Volume is likely to return to more "normal" levels to start the week. Despite recent weakness in the markets, the bulls remain in charge. Wall Street will also be watching trading in the commodities complex, especially gold and silver, as gold attempts to bust through the $1000 an ounce level for the third time in the last 2 years and silver trades at 13-month highs.

Companies That Could Issue Negative Earnings Surprises

Smithfield Foods (SFD - Snapshot Report), the largest hog and pork producer in the U.S., is struggling as pork demand falls due to the recession and worries about pork products somehow being connected to the swine flu. According to a Reuters report, the company has cut its hog breeding herd by 13% this year. Higher feed costs are also pressuring the food manufacturer.

While Smithfield has surprised on estimates 3 out of the last 4 quarters, covering analysts have been lowering the estimates going into the fiscal 2010 first quarter earnings release. In the last month, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has fallen 4 cents to a loss of 55 cents. It is scheduled to report before the market opens on Sep 8.

Keep an eye on the Aerovironment Inc. (AVAV - Snapshot Report), the maker of unmanned aircraft systems, as it reports its fiscal 2010 first quarter earnings. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has fallen by nearly 50% to 13 cents in the past 90 days. The most accurate estimate is even more bearish at 6 cents per share. The company is scheduled to report on Sep 8 after the market close.

Earnings Calendar

Here is a list of companies that we have confirmed will report during the week of Sep 8 - 11*. Prices are as of Thursday's, Sep 3, market close.

Company	Stock	Zacks Estimate	Year Ago EPS	Last Qtr Surprise	Date	Time	Price
Aceto Corp	ACET	0.11	0.32	-33.33%	9/11/2009	BTO	$6.56
Aerovironment	AVAV - Snapshot Report	0.13	0.22	3.85%	9/8/2009	AMC	$28.99
Brady Corp Cl A	BRC - Snapshot Report	0.41	0.64	12.12%	9/11/2009	BTO	$29.79
Caseys Gen Strs	CASY - Snapshot Report	0.6	0.6	-13.89%	9/8/2009	AMC	$28.26
C&D Tech Inc	CHP - Snapshot Report	-0.13	0.05	-146.67%	9/8/2009	BTO	$2.08
Campbell Soup	CPB - Analyst Report	0.26	0.26	14.29%	9/11/2009	BTO	$30.88
Descartes Sys	DSGX - Snapshot Report	0.08	0.03	28.57%	9/10/2009	BTO	$4.27
Fuelcell Energy	FCEL - Snapshot Report	-0.25	-0.39	3.33%	9/8/2009	AMC	$3.43
Finisar Corp	FNSR - Analyst Report	0	0.04	0.00%	9/10/2009	N/A	$0.86
Hooker Furnitur	HOFT - Snapshot Report	0.07	0.18	-100.00%	9/10/2009	N/A	$13.25
Harry Winston	HWD - Snapshot Report	-0.05	0.81	50.00%	9/10/2009	AMC	$6.82
Investors Rl Es	IRET - Analyst Report	0.21	0.2	0.00%	9/9/2009	AMC	$9.07
Wiley (John) A	JW.A - Snapshot Report	0.38	0.5	-4.55%	9/9/2009	BTO	$31.51
Korn/Ferry Intl	KFY - Snapshot Report	-0.06	0.36	-83.33%	9/9/2009	BTO	$12.84
K12 Inc	LRN - Snapshot Report	-0.02	-0.01	9.09%	9/9/2009	BTO	$18.88
Lululemon Athlt	LULU - Snapshot Report	0.1	0.18	12.50%	9/10/2009	BTO	$19.79
Mds Inc	MDZ - Snapshot Report	0.01	0.06	-33.33%	9/10/2009	BTO	$7.51
Mitcham Inds	MIND - Snapshot Report	-0.09	0.16	-116.67%	9/8/2009	AMC	$5.39
Mens Wearhouse	MW - Snapshot Report	0.59	0.72	0.00%	9/9/2009	AMC	$25.25
Nci Bldg System	NCS - Analyst Report	0.02	1.63	-164.29%	9/9/2009	AMC	$2.58
Natl Semicon	NSM - Analyst Report	0.07	0.33	40.91%	9/10/2009	AMC	$15.39
Omega Navigat-A	ONAV - Snapshot Report	0.2	0.38	-5.88%	9/8/2009	AMC	$4.02
Ocean Power Tec	OPTT - Snapshot Report	-0.44	-0.38	33.96%	9/9/2009	N/A	$3.84
Pep Boys M M &J	PBY - Snapshot Report	0.15	0.11	50.00%	9/8/2009	AMC	$8.70
Piedmont Nat Ga	PNY - Snapshot Report	-0.11	-0.1	10.61%	9/9/2009	BTO	$24.24
Safe Bulkers	SB - Snapshot Report	0.61	0.82	75.38%	9/8/2009	AMC	$6.83
Smithfield Food	SFD - Snapshot Report	-0.55	-0.02	3.51%	9/8/2009	BTO	$12.73
Shuffle Master	SHFL - Snapshot Report	0.07	0.11	50.00%	9/9/2009	AMC	$7.25
Signet Grp Plc	SIG - Analyst Report	0.21	0.24	34.78%	9/9/2009	N/A	$23.51
Stewart Entrp A	STEI - Snapshot Report	0.08	0.1	37.50%	9/10/2009	N/A	$5.12
Smith & Wesson	SWHC - Snapshot Report	0.09	0.05	190.00%	9/9/2009	AMC	$5.19
Titan Machinery	TITN - Snapshot Report	0.18	0.19	-23.08%	9/9/2009	BTO	$11.89
Talbots Inc	TLB - Snapshot Report	-0.52	-0.34	53.06%	9/9/2009	BTO	$6.42
Utd Natural Fds	UNFI - Analyst Report	0.36	0.3	14.71%	9/9/2009	BTO	$27.43
Xinyuan Real Es	XIN - Snapshot Report	0.05	0.1	140.00%	9/8/2009	BTO	$4.76
Zale Corp New	ZLC - Snapshot Report	-0.77	-0.48	-57.41%	9/9/2009	BTO	$5.55
Ciena Corp	CIEN - Analyst Report	($0.21)	$0.29	(137.5%)	9/3	BTO	$13.62
Cooper Cos	COO - Snapshot Report	$0.62	$0.67	27.1%	9/3	AMC	$27.87
Del Monte Foods	DLM - Analyst Report	$0.03	($0.04)	34.6%	9/3	BTO	$10.50
Esterline	ESL - Snapshot Report	$0.90	$0.68	(9.6%)	9/3	AMC	$31.43
G-Iii Apparel	GIII - Snapshot Report	($0.26)	($0.23)	19.6%	9/3	AMC	$15.21
Jackson Hewitt	JTX - Snapshot Report	($0.69)	($0.69)	(0.6%)	9/3	BTO	$5.90
Krispy Kreme	KKD - Snapshot Report	N/A	($0.03)	(1000.0%)	9/3	N/A	$3.11
Layne Christens	LAYN - Snapshot Report	$0.12	$0.78	(135.3%)	9/3	BTO	$26.86
Methode Elect-A	MEI - Snapshot Report	($0.24)	$0.27	37.5%	9/3	BTO	$8.76
Movado Grp Inc	MOV - Snapshot Report	($0.23)	$0.39	22.9%	9/3	BTO	$13.27
Quiksilver Inc	ZQK - Snapshot Report	$0.04	$0.22	25.0%	9/3	AMC	$2.94
Shanda Interact	SNDA - Snapshot Report	$0.82	$0.56	8.3%	9/3	AMC	$51.16
Uti Worldwide	UTIW - Snapshot Report	$0.18	$0.28	(28.6%)	9/3	BTO	$13.15
Ata Inc-Adr	ATAI - Snapshot Report	$0.08	$0.08	57.1%	9/4	N/A	$7.31
Barry R G Corp	GCFB - Snapshot Report	$0.00	($0.01)	0.0%	9/4	BTO	$8.50

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

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