Here's What Wall Street Is Saying About These Four Upcoming Monster Earning Reports

With earnings season underway, the investment community is anxiously awaiting earnings reports from QUALCOMM, Inc. QCOM, eBay Inc EBAY, Facebook Inc FB and AT&T Inc. T

Qualcomm: Negative Galaxy S6 Data Baked In To Guidance

Mike Burton of Brean Capital commented in a note on April 10 that there has been a lot of negativity relating to share loss in Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Galaxy S6. The analyst noted that the issue is "very well understood" by the investment community, and unlike some of its competitors, Qualcomm "prudently" factored it into their guidance after the company disclosed in January that a "key customer" declined to use its Snapdragon processor in an upcoming "flagship" phone. On the other hand, Apple Inc. AAPL had an above-seasonal success, so Qualcomm's numbers should read in-line with some slight upside, according to the analyst.

eBay: Mixed Data Points

Mark Mahaney of RBC Capital Markets detailed in a note on April 19 several key intra-quarter data points. First, quarter to date U.S. Multi-Platform Unique Visitor growth to eBay sites (based on comScore data) in January and February grew 15 percent year over year, improving "materially" versus the one percent year over year growth seen in the fourth quarter. Second, eBay posted average same-store sales growth of six percent year over year (based on Channel Advisor data), marking a decrease from the seven percent year over year growth seen in the prior quarter. Finally, first quarter U.S. online retail spend rose nine percent year over year (based on comScore data) in January and February, marking a decrease from the 15 percent growth seen in the prior quarter.

Facebook: Monetization Trending Above Expectation

Jason Helfstein of Oppenheimer commented in a note on April 19 that various channel checks suggest social ad budgets were "flattish" sequentially, marking an improvement from a mid-single digit quarter over decline seen last year. According to the analyst, Facebook's ability to better identify "intended impressions" will continue to drive "meaningfully higher" click-through rates. At the same time, Facebook's higher share of mobile Internet and increase in advertisers suggest more impressions at higher rates. Finally, Helfstein noted that Street estimates are calling for an ad revenue deceleration through the year, but Facebook's FAN and Atlas (launched globally in the fourth quarter) and recent LiveRail improvements suggest revenue from third-party applications could provide upside to second half estimates.

AT&T: Strategic Re-positioning

Michael Rollins of Citigroup commented in a note on April 19 that AT&T is likely to focus on the strategic re-positioning of its assets with the expansion into Mexico, pending acquisition of DIRECTV DTV and a broader push to sell managed services to consumers and business users. Rollings noted that in the near-term, AT&T will continue facing a higher cost of competition and capacity that will "weigh" on its financial results. The analyst added that he is expecting "minimal" earnings per share growth or multiple expansion throughout 2015 as it continues to "digest" strategic initiatives that will restore growth opportunities over the next three to five years.