Earnings Expectations For The Week Of June 30: Season Draws To A Close

As the calendar quarter draws to a close this holiday-shortened week, so does another earnings season.

The most significant quarterly reports due this week come from alcoholic beverage company Constellation Brands STZ and payroll processor Paychex PAYX.

Analysts on average are looking for strong results from the former and for modest growth on the top and bottom lines from the latter.

Below is a closer look at what analysts expect from these two reports and a few others, as well as a peek at the beginning of the new earnings season.

Constellation Brands

The fiscal first-quarter forecast for this maker of Svedka Vodka, Corona beer and Robert Mondavi wines calls for earnings per share (EPS) to be up around 59 percent from the year-ago period to $0.93 in Wednesday morning's report. Sales are expected to more than double to $1.41 billion.

Note that the consensus EPS estimate has ticked up by a penny in the past 60 days and that analysts underestimated Constellation Brands earnings in the previous three quarters. So far, the consensus forecast for the current quarter has EPS up about 15 percent and a more than 11 percent gain in revenue. That EPS estimate has slipped by a penny per share in the past 60 days.

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Paychex

Analysts expect this Rochester, New York- based staffing and outsourcing company to say that it had earnings of $0.40 per share in its fiscal fourth quarter. That would be up from $0.38 per share in the same period of last year. And revenues are forecast to have risen from $585.30 million a year ago to $617.35 million for the three months that ended in May.

For the full year, analysts are looking for EPS of $1.71 on revenue of $2.47 billion. That would be up from $1.60 per share and $2.33 billion in revenue in the previous year. Like the quarterly EPS estimate, the one for the full year has not changed in the past 60 days. The company is scheduled to share its results Tuesday after the markets close.

And Others

Here are the consensus forecasts for a few others scheduled to share their results before the Independence Day break:

• A. Schulman: EPS of $0.66 (up 24.2 percent) on revenue of $627.50 million (up 14.4 percent)
• Acuity Brands EPS of $1.12 (up 13.4 percent) on revenue of $609.09 million (up 12.5 percent)
• Greenbrier Companies: EPS of $0.74 (up 21.4 percent) on revenue of $570.74 million (up 31.6 percent)
• SYNNEX: EPS of $1.36 (up 40.4 percent) on revenue of $3.17 billion (up 22.2 percent)

See also: Nike Gains On Upbeat Earnings; Dollar General Shares Slip

The New Season

Aluminum company Alcoa AA has traditionally kicked off each new earnings season, though it is no longer a Dow Jones Industrial Average component. The company is scheduled to post its second-quarter results Tuesday, July 8.

The consensus forecast for Alcoa calls for earnings of $0.12 per share and for its revenue to total $5.66 billion. That would compare to the second quarter of 2013, when the company posted a profit of $0.07 per share and revenue came to $5.85 billion.

At the end of that week, Wells Fargo WFC steps into the earnings spotlight, the first of the big banks to share their second-quarter results. The San Francisco-based financial giant is expected to say that its earnings came to $1.01 per share. That would be up from a profit of $0.98 per share in the same period of last year. Wells Fargo also is expected to say revenues slipped less than three percent from a year ago to $20.81 billion in the quarter.

More big banks are scheduled to share their second-quarter results in mid-July, as the new earnings season ramps up. So far analysts expect to see declines on the top and bottom lines from Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan.