Earnings Preview for Jan 5-9

Correction: Chevron Corporation (CVX - Analyst Report) will release its fourth-quarter interim update on Thursday, Jan 8. Fourth-quarter earnings results will not be released until Jan 30.

Immucor, Inc. (BLUD) could top expectations. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY - Analyst Report) and Global Payments Inc. (GPN - Snapshot Report) could miss estimates.

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Traders and portfolio managers returning from their holiday vacations will be greeted by earnings and economic news.

Though earnings season will not officially start for another week (Alcoa Inc. (AA - Analyst Report) reports on Monday, Jan 12), there are 45 companies confirmed to report this week. These stocks include S&P 500 members Apollo Group, Inc. (APOL - Analyst Report), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY - Analyst Report), Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (FDO - Analyst Report), KB Home (KBH - Analyst Report), Monsanto Company (MON - Analyst Report), Constellation Brands, Inc. (STZ - Analyst Report) and SuperValu Inc. (SVU - Analyst Report).

Two key economic reports are on the calendar: minutes from the December Fed meeting (Tuesday afternoon) and December employment numbers (Friday morning).

• Monday: December auto sales, November construction spending
• Tuesday: December ISM services index, November factory orders, minutes from the December Fed meeting
• Wednesday: Weekly crude inventories
• Thursday: November consumer credit, weekly initial jobless claims
• Friday: December unemployment rate and nonfarm payrolls, November wholesale inventories

The Federal Reserve's web site is not listing any upcoming speeches from Fed officials.

Volume should improve, but market direction is a questionable. Though I can foresee a pre-inauguration rally occurring, fourth-quarter earnings and economic data will weigh on traders' minds.

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Companies That Could Issue Positive Earnings Surprises

The fiscal second-quarter consensus earnings estimate for Immucor, Inc. (BLUD) has risen by a penny over the past 30 days to 21 cents per share. The most accurate estimate is even more bullish at 24 cents per share. The reagent manufacturer has topped expectations for 3 consecutive quarters by an average margin of 4 cents per share. Immucor is scheduled to report on Wednesday, Jan 7, after the close of trading.

Companies That Could Issue Negative Earnings Surprises

In early December, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY - Analyst Report) warned that third-quarter same-store sales had declined 5.6%, well below its projection for sales to be unchanged or down by just low single digits. As a result, the company cut its EPS guidance to between 31 and 35 cents per share. Brokerage analysts responded by lowering their quarterly projections to 34 cents per share.

BBBY has missed once during the past 4 quarters. Even if the company matches expectations, there is a real possibility that its fiscal 2009 guidance could be disappointing given the horrible holiday shopping season. Bed Bath & Beyond is scheduled to report on Wednesday, Jan 7, after the close of trading.

During the past 30 days, 4 brokerage analysts have lowered their fiscal second-quarter profit projections on Global Payments Inc. (GPN - Snapshot Report). Though the revisions were not large enough to move the consensus earnings estimate from 57 cents per share, they did result in a more bearish most accurate estimate of 55 cents per share. GPN has missed once in the past 2 quarters. Global Payments is scheduled to report on Tuesday, Jan 6, after the close of trading.

Charles Rotblut, CFA is the senior market analyst for Zacks.com. He can be reached at crotblut@zacks.com.

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Earnings Calendar

Here is a list of companies that we have confirmed will report during the week of Jan 5 - 9¹. Prices are as of Wednesday's, Dec 24, market close.

Company	Ticker	Zacks Consensus Estimate	Year Ago Actual	Last Qtr Surprise	Report Date	Report Time	Price
The Mosaic Co	MOS - Snapshot Report	$1.41	$0.81	(10.5%)	1/5/2009	BTO	$34.60
Navistar Intl	NAV - Analyst Report	$0.88	($1.46)	159.1%	1/5/2009	AMC	$21.38
Angiodynamics	ANGO - Analyst Report	$0.12	$0.13	(18.2%)	1/6/2009	AMC	$13.69
Acuity Brands	AYI - Snapshot Report	$0.84	$0.93	(6.4%)	1/6/2009	AMC	$34.91
Finish Line-Cla	FINL - Snapshot Report	($0.09)	($0.17)	41.2%	1/6/2009	AMC	$5.60
Global Payments	GPN - Snapshot Report	$0.57	$0.48	18.3%	1/6/2009	AMC	$32.79
Landec Corp	LNDC - Snapshot Report	$0.11	$0.12	10.0%	1/6/2009	AMC	$6.58
Neogen Corp	NEOG - Snapshot Report	$0.25	$0.22	8.7%	1/6/2009	AMC	$24.98
Premier Exhibit	PRXI - Snapshot Report	($0.01)	$0.08	50.0%	1/6/2009	AMC	$1.13
Resources Cnctn	RECN - Snapshot Report	$0.21	$0.27	8.0%	1/6/2009	AMC	$16.38
Standard Micros	SMSC - Snapshot Report	$0.16	$0.41	18.8%	1/6/2009	AMC	$16.34
Xyratex Ltd	XRTX - Snapshot Report	($0.05)	$0.29	-15.15%	1/6/2009	AMC	2.95
Bed Bath&Beyond	BBBY - Analyst Report	$0.34	$0.49	0.0%	1/7/2009	AMC	$25.42
Immucor	BLUD	$0.21	$0.23	21.7%	1/7/2009	AMC	$26.58
Christopher&Bnk	CBK - Snapshot Report	($0.05)	$0.29	33.3%	1/7/2009	AMC	$5.60
Family Dollar	FDO - Analyst Report	$0.40	$0.37	11.8%	1/7/2009	AMC	$26.07
Merix Corp	MERX	($0.12)	($0.19)	29.4%	1/7/2009	AMC	$0.28
Monsanto Co-New	MON - Analyst Report	$0.60	$0.46	66.7%	1/7/2009	AMC	$70.35
Ruby Tuesday	RT - Snapshot Report	($0.10)	($0.20)	(90.9%)	1/7/2009	AMC	$1.56
Sonic Corp	SONC - Snapshot Report	$0.17	$0.22	(2.9%)	1/7/2009	AMC	$12.17
Spectrum Contrl	SPEC	$0.19	$0.23	12.5%	1/7/2009	AMC	$6.14
Constellatn Brd	STZ - Analyst Report	$0.59	$0.55	2.3%	1/7/2009	AMC	$15.77
Supervalu Inc	SVU - Analyst Report	$0.61	$0.69	(12.9%)	1/7/2009	AMC	$14.60
Unifirst Corp	UNF - Snapshot Report	$0.85	$0.90	(7.4%)	1/7/2009	AMC	$29.69
Wd 40 Co	WDFC - Snapshot Report	$0.40	$0.36	(31.3%)	1/7/2009	AMC	$28.29
Apollo Group	APOL - Analyst Report	$0.97	$0.83	11.9%	1/8/2009	AMC	$76.62
Demandtec Inc	DMAN	($0.04)	($0.04)	(100.0%)	1/8/2009	AMC	$8.07
Great Atl & Pac	GAP	($0.35)	($0.28)	(284.6%)	1/8/2009	AMC	$6.27
Helen Of Troy	HELE - Snapshot Report	$0.76	$0.81	(8.1%)	1/8/2009	AMC	$17.36
Healthways Inc	HWAY - Analyst Report	$0.34	$0.30	(2.0%)	1/8/2009	AMC	$11.48
Lawson Software	LWSN	$0.06	$0.08	(20.0%)	1/8/2009	AMC	$4.74
Allscripts-Misy	MDRX - Analyst Report	$0.12	$0.14	0.0%	1/8/2009	AMC	$9.92
Matrix Service	MTRX - Snapshot Report	$0.40	$0.01	20.0%	1/8/2009	AMC	$7.67
Nu Horizons Ele	NUHC	($0.04)	$0.10	(75.0%)	1/8/2009	AMC	$1.72
Penford Corp	PENX - Snapshot Report	($0.13)	$0.42	(58.5%)	1/8/2009	AMC	$10.12
Robbins & Myers	RBN - Snapshot Report	$0.44	$0.40	7.3%	1/8/2009	AMC	$16.17
Rpm Intl Inc	RPM - Snapshot Report	$0.38	$0.42	(3.6%)	1/8/2009	AMC	$13.29
Saba Software	SABA - Snapshot Report	$0.02	$0.00	0.0%	1/8/2009	AMC	$1.55
Schnitzer Steel	SCHN - Snapshot Report	($1.10)	$0.85	65.9%	1/8/2009	AMC	$37.65
Synnex Corp	SNX - Snapshot Report	$0.71	$0.61	13.8%	1/8/2009	AMC	$11.33
Texas Inds	TXI - Snapshot Report	$0.25	$1.05	(67.1%)	1/8/2009	AMC	$34.50
Azz Inc	AZZ - Snapshot Report	$0.81	$0.66	15.0%	1/9/2008	AMC	$25.10
Emmis Comm Cl A	EMMS - Snapshot Report	($0.02)	($0.22)	200.0%	1/9/2008	AMC	$0.35
Kb Home	KBH - Analyst Report	($1.09)	($5.16)	(19.1%)	1/9/2008	AMC	$13.62
Schulman(A) Inc	SHLM - Snapshot Report	$0.31	$0.36	4.0%	1/9/2008	AMC	$17.00

BMO = Before Market Open, AMC = After Market Close

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

Read the full analyst report on APOL

Read the full analyst report on CVX

Read the full analyst report on GPN

Read the full analyst report on KBH

Read the full analyst report on AA

Read the full analyst report on SVU

Read the full analyst report on BLUD

Read the full analyst report on STZ

Read the full analyst report on MON

Read the full analyst report on BBBY