From Alcoa to Wells Fargo: Prepare for Q4 Earnings Season

by Louis Navellier | January 8, 2014 10:03 am

Earnings season is upon us and you can bet that it is going to spur some big swings in the market. While the Fed was Wall Street’s obsession in 2013, I expect corporate profits to take center stage in 2014.

After a five-quarter earnings drought for the S&P 500, growth finally materialized in the third quarter, and earnings are expected to significantly improve from the fourth quarter and then again in every single quarter in 2014. With the U.S. dollar near a one-year low against a broad basket of 15 major currencies, many multinational companies are benefitting from a “currency tailwind.”

So I expect the fourth-quarter earnings season to be even more eventful than the last. To prepare for this, let’s preview some of the biggest earnings announcements coming at us over the next few trading days. I’ll provide what the analyst community’s expectations are for each stock plus my take on whether the upcoming earnings announcement is a buying opportunity.

The Good

Ticker	Company Name	Earnings Date	Estimated Sales Growth	Estimated Earnings Growth	Recommendation
AXP	American Express	16-Jan	5.0%	14.7%	Buy[1]
BBBY	Bed Bath & Beyond	8-Jan	6.8%	11.7%	Buy[2]
SCHW	Charles Schwab	13-Jan	14.4%	40.0%	Buy[3]
SVU	SUPERVALU	9-Jan	-48.8%	333.3%	Buy[4]
UNH	UnitedHealth Group	16-Jan	12.4%	1.3%	Buy[5]
WEN	Wendy’s	13-Jan	-2.7%	-33.3%	Buy[6]
WFC	Wells Fargo	14-Jan	-5.9%	6.5%	Buy[7]

The Bad

Ticker	Company Name	Earnings Date	Estimated Sales Growth	Estimated Earnings Growth	Recommendation
BAC	Bank of America	15-Jan	-1.7%	800.0%	Hold[8]
BK	Bank of New York Melon	17-Jan	2.3%	3.8%	Hold[9]
COF	Capital One Financial	16-Jan	-2.8%	9.2%	Hold[10]
CSX	CSX	15-Jan	1.7%	-2.3%	Hold[11]
FDO	Family Dollar Stores	9-Jan	3.4%	0.0%	Hold[12]
GE	General Electric	17-Jan	2.3%	20.5%	Hold[13]
GS	Goldman Sachs Group	16-Jan	-17.4%	-26.1%	Hold[14]
INTC	Intel	16-Jan	1.8%	8.3%	Hold[15]
JPM	JPMorgan	14-Jan	-2.2%	-4.3%	Hold[16]
MON	Monsanto	8-Jan	4.5%	3.2%	Hold[17]
MS	Morgan Stanley	17-Jan	7.5%	4.4%	Hold[18]
TXI	Texas Industries	8-Jan	31.9%	33.3%	Hold[19]

The Ugly

Ticker	Company Name	Earnings Date	Estimated Sales Growth	Estimated Earnings Growth	Recommendation
AA	Aloca	9-Jan	-8.5%	0.0%	Sell[20]
C	Citigroup	16-Jan	-1.1%	49.3%	Sell[21]
FAST	Fastenal	13-Jan	8.4%	6.1%	Strong Sell[22]
KMI	Kinder Morgan	15-Jan	23.8%	2.9%	Sell[23]
RT	Ruby Tuesday	8-Jan	-11.1%	-300.0%	Strong Sell[24]
STI	SunTrust Banks	17-Jan	-11.2%	6.2%	Sell[25]

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2014/01/earnings-season-aa-wfc-c-axp-bbby/

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