The Week Ahead: Earnings from McGraw-Hill, Cisco, Pepsi; Chinese New Year

Earnings season is beginning to wind down, but the second full week of February will still be full of earnings reports from a variety of companies. Companies as diverse as McGraw-Hill MHP, Michael Kors KORS, Goodyear Tire GT, Cisco CSCO, Zillow Z, Weight Watchers WTW, Cabela's CAB, Pepsico PEP, and Goldcorp GG will all report earnings during the week. McGraw-Hill will report earnings on Tuesday. In a typical quarter, the holding company generally wouldn't attract much investor attention, but this isn't a typical quarter. McGraw-Hill has become a hot stock over the last week as it is the parent company of the ratings agency Standard & Poor's. Last Tuesday, the Obama administration sued S&P over its rating of mortgage-backed securities and CDOs, alleging that the faulty ratings contributed to the global financial crisis. The government is seeking $5 billion in a civil lawsuit -- a little less than one-third of McGraw Hill's market cap. But The Benchmark Company's Ed Atorino isn't concerned. He reiterated his Buy rating last week and $57 price target. Atorino believes that McGraw-Hill will report a strong quarter on Tuesday, though he freely admits that the market might not give the company credit for it. “[The lawsuit] is totally politically motivated,” Atorino told Benzinga. “[S&P] has done nothing wrong. Ratings don't predict bond price!” Fashion designer and retailer Michael Kors KORS is also set to report Tuesday. Analysts currently expect the company to post earnings per share of $0.41 on revenue of $540.30 million. Since the company's IPO in late 2011, shares of Michael Kors are up well over 130%. In the last three months alone, shares have rallied just over 13%. Despite the move to the upside, analysts at Morgan Stanley remain bullish with an Overweight rating and $68 price target. “KORS is our top pick into earnings,” Morgan Stanley states. “KORS is a leading retail growth story with high estimate achievability in our view. The company continues to capitalize on the unique advantage created by founder Michael Kors' fame.” Networking giant Cisco will follow on Wednesday. Analysts expect the company to report an earnings per share figure of $0.48 on revenue of $12.06 billion. Over the last three months, shares are up well over 25%. Analysts at Citigroup remain positive on Cisco. In a note released Friday, they reiterated their Buy rating and $24 price target. “We expect revenues will be at least in line with management's guidance,” Citigroup writes. “Further, we expect sequential growth in switching and routing. By geography, we expect to see relative strength from North America and potential for Europe to beat very low expectations.” On the economics front in the U.S., investors will get data on retail sales Wednesday and industrial production and consumer confidence Friday. Internationally, the Chinese New Year -- which lasts the whole week -- will keep the Shanghai stock exchange closed all five days. The Hong Kong exchange will be closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, while Singapore will only be closed Monday. Japan's market is also closed Monday, but for Founder's Day. Brazil's stock exchange will be closed Monday through Thursday due to Carnival. Overall, the market should continue to be dominated by earnings reports throughout the week. Without any political headlines, the market might continue to trade on fundamentals. Risks out of Asia should be limited with the holiday, but Europe might continue to represent a threat to the bulls. Monday

• Earnings from: American Financial AFG, Nielsen Holdings NLSN, Loews L
• China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Brazil Markets Closed

Tuesday

• Earnings from: Coca-Cola KO, McGraw-Hill, Western Union WU, Level 3 Communications LVLT, Rackspace Hosting RAX, Michael Kors, Goodyear Tire
• China, Hong Kong and Brazil Markets Closed; U.S. Federal Budget Balance (Expected -$2B); South Korean Unemployment Rate (Prior 3%)

Wednesday

• Earnings from: Comcast CMCSA, CenturyLink CTL, Dean Foods DF, Whole Foods WFM, Zillow, Lorillard LO
• China, Hong Kong and Brazil Markets Closed; U.S. Core Retail Sales (Expected 0.1%); Japanese GDP (Expected 0.1%)

Thursday

• Earnings from: Cabela's, Pepsico, Goldcorp, Alpha Natural Resources ANR, Molson Coors TAP
• China and Brazil Markets Closed; German GDP Expected (Expected -0.5%); Eurozone GDP (Expected -0.4%)

Friday

• Earnings from: JM Smucker SJM, Campbell Soup CPB
• Chinese Market Closed; U.K. Retail Sales (Expected 0.8% Year-over-Year); U.S. Industrial Production (Expected 0.2% Month-over-Month); U.S. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment (Expected 74.8)