A look ahead at the week on Wall Street shows a number of important news items and trends for investors to watch:
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) is already worth almost $80 billion but has a key FDA event in the works that could boost the blue chip’s value even more. The issue in focus this Wednesday is an FDA panel review of its Meridia drug, which is to treat obesity that could easily be a new blockbuster if ultimately approved.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) has its analyst meeting on Tuesday. While guidance is expected to be refined, keep those dividend hopes alive.
Three earnings are key this week for tech investors: Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) , Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM).
Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) has earnings Tuesday and the company never issued a warning. It has to be expected then that Best Buy will talk down yearly results when it reports, even though there is a lot of pessimism baked into the cake already now for BBY stock. At $33.88, its 52-week range is $30.90 to $48.83.
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) is expected to report earnings on Thursday. Analysts have not really adjusted the current quarter’s $0.36 EPS figure any lower, nor has Wall Street chanced the $0.45 EPS expected for the following Q4 report. Oracle stock may have run up too much on the Mark Hurd hire, closing out Friday at $25.05. Its 52-week range is $20.10 to $26.63.
Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) is set to announce earnings Thursday and Thomson Reuters estimates are $1.35 EPS and $4.48 billion in revenues. At $44.12, a lot of bad news is already priced in as the 52-week range is $42.53 to $88.08.
In other news to watch, Barron‘s gave several key reports over the weekend:
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was given a very positive write-up, although with shares near a 52-week high much of the profits may already have been made in the stock; Barron’s anoted that its small business offerings and TurboTax and Quicken and web-based services make it perfectly positioned ahead.
VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) was noted cautiously and is vulnerable to competition and at 61-times expected earnings.
Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) was given the front-page cover story on Barron’s called “Just Try to Copy That,” noting it could go to $14 or $15 in the next year.
The full report on the The Unusual Suspects for the Week Ahead can be read at 24/7 Wall Street.
As of this writing, Jon Ogg did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
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