Earnings Expectations For The Week Of February 2: Disney, Exxon, GM And More

It is clear that the mixed earnings results seen so far have contributed to the volatility in the markets throughout January. While many of the market movers have already shared their most recent quarterly results, there are plenty more on tap as February gets started.

Among the most anticipated results this week will be those from General Motors Company GM, Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD, Twitter Inc TWTR and Walt Disney Co DIS, from which analysts expect to see earnings growth. On the other hand, the consensus forecasts for Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM and Merck & Co., Inc. MRK call for earnings declines, while Sprint Corporation S is expected to report a net loss.

The following is a quick day-by-day run down of analyst expectations from these and some of the week's other most prominent reports.

See also: The Most Important Message Investors Need For Earnings Season

Monday

The fourth-quarter forecast for Exxon calls for per-share earnings of $1.34 on revenue of $87.58 billion. In the same period of last year, the supermajor posted $1.91 in earnings per share and revenue of $110.86 billion. EPS handily beat estimates in recent quarters, but the consensus estimate has dropped $0.19 in the past 60 days. Exxon will report before the markets open.

Cliffs Natural Resources and Hartford Financial Services are expected to join Exxon in posting earnings declines on Monday, but analysts are looking for higher earnings from Anadarko Petroleum and Sysco when they report.

Tuesday

Late Tuesday, Gilead Sciences will post per-share earnings of $2.20 on revenue of $6.73 billion, if the consensus forecast for the fourth quarter is correct. That would be a big jump from EPS of $0.55 and $3.12 billion in revenue in the year-ago period. But note that the EPS estimate has dropped by a nickel in the past 60 days, and earnings fell short of expectations in the previous report.

Disney is also scheduled to share its results after the markets close. Per-share earnings are expected to have risen less than 3 percernt to $1.07. That estimate has ticked up by a penny in the past 60 days. Revenue for the fiscal first quarter is forecast to be more than 4 percent higher to $12.87 billion.

Also on Tuesday, Emerson Electric and National Oilwell Varco are expected to offer up earnings growth, while EPS from UPS are flat, relative to the year-ago quarter. However, Archer Daniels Midland, BP and Consol Energy are believed to have shrinking earnings, and Arch Coal is expected to a report a smaller net loss.

Wednesday

Before the trading day kicks off, the earnings spotlight will fall on GM and on Merck. The consensus forecast calls for EPS from the automaker to have risen more than 19 percent to $0.83 in the fourth quarter. From the pharma giant, earnings of $0.86 per share are anticipated, which would be down from the $0.88 per share posted in last year's fourth quarter.

Quarterly revenue at GM is expected to be $40.12 billion, or marginally lower than a year ago. A revenue decline of more than 7 percent to $10.48 billion is predicted for the Merck. Full-year revenues will be marginally higher for the former and about 4 percent lower for the latter, if forecasts hit the nail on the head.

In addition, analysts on average believe Boston Scientific, Level 3 Communications, Marathon Petroleum and Twenty-First Century Fox will report earnings growth in the middle of the week. However, quarterly EPS are expected to be lower than a year ago at Toyota and Yum! Brands.

There are no consensus estimates for Sony, as analysts wait to see how things shake out after last year's disastrous hack.

Thursday

In its post-session report, Sprint is expected to show a quarterly net loss of $1.23 per share, which would be the same as in the fiscal third quarter of last year. The company reported $8.5 billion in revenue for the previous quarter, and sales of less than $8.3 billion are forecast for the current quarter.

The forecast for Twitter calls for a gain of two-thirds in earnings to $0.06 per share, as well as for revenue of $453.34 million, which would be a jump of almost 87 percent from the same period of last year. The consensus EPS estimate is unchanged in the past 60 days, and Twitter will share its results after the closing bell.

Also on Thursday, look for anticipated earnings gains from Activision Blizzard, GoPro (sequential), LinkedIn, Michael Kors, Pandora Media, Sirius XM and Yelp. However, News Corporation, Philip Morris International and Teva Pharmaceutical are expected to have EPS that are lower, relative to the year-ago period.

See also: Why Apple And Google Are Heading In The Same Direction

Friday

Alcatel-Lucent will show a narrow earnings decline early in the day, if the consensus forecast is correct, while Dominion Resources will later say that its per-share profit grew year-over-year.

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