Earnings Expectations For The Week Of May 12: Wal-Mart, Deere, Cisco And More

Most of the S&P 500 have already posted their first-quarter results. This week, big retailers begin to share their earnings reports. Wal-Mart WMT, the big daddy of retailers, steps onto the earnings stage Thursday. Macy's M and J.C. Penney JCP are also scheduled to share their results this week. Other highlights include reports from Cisco Systems CSCO and Deere DE. Here is a brief look at what analysts expect from these and some of the week's other most prominent earnings results. See also: Benzinga Weekly Preview: Several Large Retailers Set To Report Cisco Analysts expect this network and IT giant to post earnings of $0.48 per share for its most recent fiscal quarter. That would be down from $0.51 a year ago. And revenues for the third quarter are estimated to total $11.38 billion, which would be down from $12.22 billion a year ago. Note that earnings per share (EPS) topped consensus estimates in the previous four quarters. And the consensus EPS estimate has remained unchanged over the past 60 days. So far EPS and revenues for the current quarter are expected to be higher sequentially but again lower year over year. Cisco is scheduled to share its results Wednesday after the markets close. Deere The forecast for this maker of agriculture and construction equipment calls for earnings of $2.47 per share and for revenue to total $9.65 billion for its most recent quarter. In the year-ago period, Deere posted a profit of $2.76 per share and sales came to $10.26 billion. Note that Deere topped EPS estimates by double-digit percentages in the previous three quarters. So far, the consensus expectations have year-over-year declines on the top and bottom lines for both the current quarter and the full year. Look for Deere to share its results Wednesday before the opening bell. J.C. Penney This beleaguered retailer is forecast to report a net loss of $1.25 per share in Thursday afternoon's report. That would compare to the $1.38 per share net loss in the year-ago period. Note that the losses came in worse that analysts estimated in three of the previous four quarters. The company also is expected to post revenues of $2.71 billion for the fiscal first quarter, which would be a gain of more than two percent relative to a year ago. So far, a similar gain in revenue is predicted for the current quarter, along with a narrower net loss than in the same period of last year. Macy's In its report early Wednesday, the Cincinnati-based department store operator is expected to say that EPS rose from $0.55 in the year-ago quarter to $0.59 for the three months that ended in April. Per-share earnings exceeded consensus expectations by more than six percent in the previous period. However, revenues for the first quarter are predicted to have risen a little more than one percent to $6.47 billion. And thus far, year-on-year growth of revenue and EPS is expected for the current quarter and for the full year, though the consensus EPS estimate for the year has ticked down two cents in the past 30 days. Wal-Mart The first-quarter forecast for the world's largest retailer calls for earnings of $1.15 per share, on $116.25 billion in revenue, in Thursday morning's report. That would be hardly any higher than the $1.14 per share and $114.19 billion in sales reported in the same period of the previous year. Note that 60 days ago the consensus estimate called for $1.16 per share in earnings. The company beat EPS expectations in the past two quarters by a penny, but fell short by a penny in the two periods before that. Marginal gains on the top and bottom lines are forecast for the current quarter as well. See also: Doug Kass: 7 Important Bubbles In Our Current Market And Others Analysts also foresee earnings growth this week from Applied Materials and Canadian Solar. But Agilent Technologies, Autodesk, CA Technologies, Kohl's, Nordstrom, Rackspace Hosting, SodaStream International and Take-Two Interactive Software are expected to show a year-over-year decline in their per-share earnings. The consensus forecasts call for net losses from Arena Pharmaceuticals, E-commerce China Dangdang, Gogo, Mannkind, Plug Power and Sony in their reports this week. The following week, look for earnings reports from more retailers, including Best Buy, Dollar Tree, GameStop, Home Depot, Sears, Staples, Target, Tiffany and Urban Outfitters. Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following us on Twitter.