This Week's Dow Earnings: High Expectations For DuPont And Visa

• More than a third of the Dow Jones Industrials are on deck to report quarterly results this week.
• Wall Street expectations are perhaps highest for a chemicals giant and a leading credit services company.
• However, just one of these two is expected to show growth on the top line.

The third-quarter earnings reporting season is in full swing, and more than a third of the Dow Jones Industrial Average components have shared their latest results so far. Most of the rest of the 30 Dow members are on tap to report this week, and the Wall Street expectations are perhaps highest for E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co D, better known as DuPont, and Visa Inc V.

The Wall Street consensus forecasts call for earnings at both to have increased by double-digit percentages from the same period of last year. But analysts see top line growth from only one of them, for the period when DuPont moved forward on its merger with Dow Chemical and Visa provided the card of choice for Costco Wholesale Corporation COST.

When Delaware-based conglomerate DuPont shares its third-quarter results, the Wall Street forecast is that it will post a profit of $0.20 per share and $4.86 billion in revenue. That would compare with the earnings of $0.13 per share and revenue of $4.87 billion last year. It also would be the lowest revenue and second lowest profit results in the past eight quarters.

The consensus of just eight Estimize respondents have pegged EPS at $0.23 and revenue at $5.35 billion for the three months that ended in September. In the previous two quarters, Estimize overestimated on the bottom line numbers, though the revenue number was just about on target for the second quarter.

Related Link: This Week's Dow Earnings: Low Expectations For Exxon And Chevron

Wall Street's consensus forecast for Visa is for earnings per share (EPS) to have risen by 11 cents from the same period of last year to $0.73. That estimate is unchanged in the past 60 days. The consensus of 137 Estimize respondents calls for $0.74 for the fiscal fourth quarter that ended in September. Note that Wall Street has underestimated EPS results in the past three quarters.

Estimize predicts that the revenue of this San Francisco-based payments technology giant will total $4.20 billion for the quarter, up more than 16 percent from the year-ago period. Wall Street is a bit more optimistic, with its consensus forecast set at $4.23 billion. Back in the third quarter, Visa's revenue narrowly missed both forecasts.

Visa is scheduled to report its results after the closing bell on Monday, while DuPont is expected to post its numbers first thing the following morning.

Also this week, the consensus forecasts call for per-share earnings at Dow members Apple, Chevron, Coca-Cola and Exxon Mobil to be lower than a year ago. The EPS at Procter & Gamble are anticipated to be about the same as in the year-ago period.

On the other hand, the consensus forecasts call for a gain in EPS at Boeing, Caterpillar, Merck, 3M and United Technologies, relative to a year ago.

Only a handful of Dow components will be left to report after that, but watch for upcoming results from Cisco, Pfizer and Walt Disney.

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At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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