High Hopes For Yum Brands Earnings, Not So Much For Micron and Monsanto

• Three quarterly reports will highlight a quiet week on the earnings front.
• Wall Street analysts are looking for net losses from two of them.
• Other news may overshadow the latest results from the third.

The third quarter may have ended but the Q3 earnings reporting season doesn't really get underway until next week. In the meantime, reports from Micron Technology, Inc. MU, Monsanto Company MON and Yum! Brands, Inc. YUM are the highlights in this otherwise quiet week.

The consensus Wall Street forecasts call for per-share net losses from Micron and Monsanto, though a narrower loss from the latter (which is about to acquired), relative to last year, while the former (an Apple supplier) has swung from a year-ago profit.

However, expectations are higher for the operator of the Taco Bell and KFC fast-food chains, with positive (though marginal) growth on the top and bottom lines anticipated. Note that some expect spin-off news to overshadow the results.

Below is a quick look at what is expected from these three reports, as well as a peek at a few other companies that also are on tap to share their quarterly results this week.

Micron Technology

In its report after Tuesday's closing bell, this semiconductor maker is expected to say that in its fiscal fourth quarter it had a net loss of $0.09 per share, according to 118 Estimize respondents. That would compare to a profit of $0.37 per share in the year-ago period. The Wall Street consensus estimate is $0.12 per-share loss, but note that the analysts overestimated the losses in the previous two quarters.

Estimize overestimated revenue in the past three quarters, and this time the respondents are looking for $3.14 billion, which is about the same as the Wall Street revenue forecast for the three months that ended in August. In the same period of last year, the Boise, Idaho-based company reported $3.60 billion in revenue.

See also: What's Happened With Prison Stocks Over The Last Month?

Monsanto

The consensus Wall Street forecast calls for this agricultural products producer to post a fiscal Q4 net loss of $0.02 per share (compared with -$0.19 in the same period of last year) and for revenue to have risen marginally to $2.38 billion in the period. Note that Monsanto fell short on both the top and bottom lines back in the third quarter.

Estimize is pretty much of a like mind, with the consensus of 13 respondents pegging the net loss at $0.01 per share on revenue of $2.36 billion for the three months that ended in August. But Estimize also overestimated the results back in the third quarter. Monsanto is scheduled to share its latest results before Wednesday's trading session begins.

Yum Brands

The Q3 profit of this operator of the Pizza Hut and other chains is predicted to have risen $0.09 per share, according to Wall Street analysts, up from the $1.00 reported a year ago. The consensus of 25 Estimize respondents has earnings coming in at $1.10 per share. Either forecast represents the highest quarterly earnings in the past two years.

In Wednesday's report, analysts are looking for $3.46 billion in revenue for the three months that ended in September, a little less than the $3.51 billion that Estimize is looking for. Either forecast is only marginally higher than the revenue reported a year ago. But both Wall Street and Estimize overestimated revenue in the previous two quarters.

And Others

Other companies that Wall Street analysts expect to show at least some earnings growth when they report this week include Acuity Brands, Constellation Brands, Darden Restaurants, Global Payments and RPM International.

However, the consensus forecast calls for EPS at Helen of Troy to be the same as year ago. A net loss also is anticipated from NovaGold Resources.

Alcoa, the traditional kick off to a new earnings season, reports early the following week. It's followed by the first of the big banks -- Citigroup, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo -- at the end of that week.

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