Investors looking for good earnings reports are in luck. The following are two companies that I feel will release strong, estimate-beating results in the coming week:
Acme Packet Inc. (NASDAQ:APKT), based in Burlington, Mass., is a high-tech company that makes communications equipment that helps Internet-based networks communicate with each other better. It has a suite of products, called session board controllers, which are used to connect networks operated by Internet Service Providers as well as business clients.
The company reports its latest round of earnings on Thursday, Oct. 20. For its upcoming report, Acme is expected to post earnings of $0.22 per share on revenues of $70.97 million. That’s over 10% earnings growth and 25% sales growth. Even better, APKT is expected to grow 43.7% by the end of year. That tells us that there’s still a lot of upward movement left to see in this stock.
Tempur-Pedic International Inc. (NYSE:TPX) is the worldwide leader in specialty sleep and the fastest-growing segment of the estimated $13 billion global mattress market. Its mattresses are consistently ranked as Consumer’s Digest Best Buys, and they have won the coveted Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. In addition, Tempur-Pedic mattresses are the only ones to have earned the Arthritis Foundation’s Ease-of-Use Commendation.
Rest assured, with this investment you can rest easy. The upcoming earnings numbers are looking quite strong for the company. Analysts are predicting over 37% growth in the quarter, along with 10.7% sales growth. That’s incredible, especially considering the analyst community is expecting a 36% drop in growth for the industry for the quarter. TPX also reports earnings on Thursday, Oct. 20.
Now let’s look at a few companies whose earnings aren’t expected to fare too well:
Earnings Losers:
Cheesecake Factory Inc. (NASDAQ:CAKE) operates several upscale, casual and full-service restaurants in the U.S. The company has 154 Cheesecake Factory restaurants, 13 Grand Lux Cafes and one RockSugar pan Asian Kitchen. Since 1972, the company has produced baked desserts and other products for its restaurants, as well as for other foodservice operators, retailers and distributors.
The company may make plenty of sweet treats, but the stock itself hasn’t had such a pleasant run lately. Analysts are expecting modest growth for the stock in both earnings and sales for the quarter. However, CAKE’s expected 2.7% growth for the quarter is far below the 33.2% growth expected within the rest of the industry. If you’re looking for a restaurant stock to get into this earnings season, I would set your sights somewhere other than CAKE, as you will see when the company report earnings later today.
Ilumina Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) is a cutting edge company in the field of life sciences. Its tools are used by life sciences and drug researchers to isolate and analyze genes, helping to decode the human genome and make advances in gene identification. Illumina’s products enable laboratories to determine what genetic combinations are associated with various diseases, thereby enabling faster diagnoses, better drugs and individualized treatment. However, a good chunk of its revenue is tied to federal research grants, and the recent budget woes have put the squeeze on this company.
In the last 30 days, 20 analysts have lowered their estimates for the company. Not a good sign at all. Currently the analyst community believes that ILMN will show a 23.3% drop in growth when it reports its latest earnings Tuesday, Oct. 25. This stock is a sell in my book. The pressure of federal budget woes has definitely put a damper on the company’s performance and will be reflected in the upcoming quarters’ earnings.
General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) is one of the most well-known industrial goods companies in the world. General Electric operates under several segments including Energy Infrastructure, Aviation, Healthcare, Transportation, GE Capital and Home and Business Solutions. The company provides everything from high pressure reactors for industrial power to home kitchen appliances.
GE will report third-quarter earnings on Friday, Oct. 21. Unfortunately, analysts are calling for a 2.9% sales growth for the quarter and only a 10.7% jump in earnings. Considering the rest of the industry is expected to show 41.9% growth for the quarter, General Electric isn’t the brightest stock to be investing in right now.
