More Earnings News You Can Use

by Louis Navellier | July 24, 2012 4:52 pm

Earnings season is in full swing, and after disappointing news[1] Tuesday night from both Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[2]) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX[3]) it’s time to move on and look at some of the upcoming announcements our investors are looking for the remainder of the week.

On Thursday Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE:DPS[4]) will report earnings and I love this company. I’ve recommended this company to my Blue Chip Growth[5] members for the last year and while we’ve made some nice double-digit gains, the 3.1% dividend payment has been fantastic. While the earnings growth with this company is not quite as explosive as AAPL, this is a safe beverage company with solid fundamentals across the board. I rate DPS a buy.

Also on Thursday morning we’ll hear from 3M (NYSE:MMM[6]). While this company also pays a nice dividend, I’m not a buyer just yet. The company has had trouble growing its sales and margins of late which is impacting earnings growth and the ability to post earnings surprises.

At best, I rate MMM as a hold. If you already own it, the risk is low to hold on. But if you’re thinking about establishing a new position, I would wait for margins to improve and buying pressure to build.

Wrapping up the week on Friday is Merck (NYSE:MRK[7]). This is an interesting one. The stock has been on a great run in the last two months—rising nearly 16% in what has been a rough period for the indices.

Big drug companies are riding the “ObamaCare” decision wave lately, but what’s on tap for earnings? Sales are expected to be flat from the year-ago quarter while earnings should be up just 6% over last year. Operating margins are at 22%, cash flow is decent and buying pressure is top notch.

If the company can eke out an earnings surprise, it will keep momentum building for the stock. I rate MRK as a buy in my free stock rating tool[8].

If there are any major earnings developments this week, you can be sure that I’ll be in touch immediately with another Market 360 update and through our Daily Blog[9].

So check your email and NavellierGrowth.com[10] regularly for updates. Until then, if there’s a stock you’d like to get my buy/sell/hold recommendation on this earnings season, log on to my free stock-rating tool, Portfolio Grader[11], for my current advice.

Source URL: http://investorplace.com/2012/07/more-earnings-news-you-can-use-aapl-nflx-dps-mmm-mrk/
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