Apple And Other Earnings Expectations For The Week Of April 27

The first-quarter earnings season rolls on this week, and perhaps the most anticipated report of the week, if not the quarter, will come from Apple Inc. AAPL. Investors and Wall Street are looking for spectacular results. Analysts' forecasts also call for earnings growth from Time Warner Inc TWX and Twitter Inc TWTR when they share their most recent results this week. However, expectations are modest for Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM, Merck & Co., Inc. MRK, Nokia Corporation (ADR) NOK and Pfizer Inc. PFE. Here is a brief day-by-day run down of what is expected from these and some of the week's other most prominent reports. See also: Apple Earnings: Wall Street & Main Street Are Increasingly Bullish

Monday

In the first report since the launch of the Apple Watch, some 323 estimates from Estimize suggest first-quarter results from Apple will be earnings per share (EPS) of $2.27 on revenue of $57.32 billion. That would be up from EPS of $1.66 and $45.65 billion revenue in the year-ago period. It is also higher than the expectations of Wall Street for $2.16 per share and $56.06 billion. Barrick Gold and Hartford Financial Services also are scheduled to report their results late Monday, with smaller EPS predicted for the former and flat EPS for that latter.

Tuesday

Rival pharmaceutical giants Merck and Pfizer will share their results before the markets open. Estimize forecasts call for EPS of $0.78 (15 estimates) and $0.51 (24 estimates), respectively. That is a year-on-year decline of more than 10 percent from each of them. As far as revenue, the consensus forecasts have Merck posting $9.11 billion, a more than 12 percent year-on-year decrease, and Pfizer offering up $10.96 billion, or a decline of more than 5 percent. Boston Scientific, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Corning, Ford, JetBlue, Sirius XM, UPS, Valero Energy also report Wednesday morning and will post earnings gains, if Wall Street is correct. But EPS declines are expected from Aetna, BP, Coach and CONSOL Energy, as well as a net loss from T-Mobile. Results from Twitter will be a highlight later in the day. The consensus of 76 Estimize estimates is $0.07 per share, which compares with break-even EPS a year ago. The anticipated revenue of $464.69 million would be well higher than the $250.49 million in the same period of last year. Others reporting late Wednesday include Kraft Foods and U.S. Steel. Smaller bottom line results are expected from both of them.

Wednesday

Before the regular trading session begins, Time-Warner steps onto the earnings stage. Estimize has just three estimates, with a consensus forecast of $1.11 per share in earnings and $7.02 billion in revenue. That would be marginal growth on both the top and bottom lines, relative to the first quarter of last year. Also mid-week, Exelon, MasterCard and Yelp are expected to show earnings growth in their most recent quarters, while Baidu, Goodyear Tire, Mondelez International, Noble, Southern Company, Suncor Energy and Williams Companies are believed to have lower earnings. Net losses are expected from Hercules Offshore and Hess.

Thursday

Exxon Mobil is scheduled to share its results before the markets open, and per-share earnings are expected to have dropped from $2.10 in the year-ago period to $0.89. That forecast is based on 25 estimates collected by Estimize. Revenue for the first quarter is predicted to be sharply lower as well, to around $53.34 billion. Also before the opening bell, Nokia is expected to say that its EPS are the same as in the first quarter of last year, or $0.05, according to Wall Street analysts. However, revenue is forecast to total $3.44 billion, which would be more than 5 percent lower year over year. Be sure to watch for anticipated earnings gains from Celgene, Gilead Sciences, LinkedIn, Potash, Teva Pharmaceutical, Time Warner Cable and Western Union, relative to the same periods of last year, on Thursday as well. However, AIG, Avon Products, Colgate-Palmolive, Phillips 66 and Visa are projected to have EPS that are lower. The forecasts for Alpha Natural Resources, ConocoPhillips and FireEye call for net losses. See also: What Does The Street Think Of Microsoft Now?

Friday

Chevron and Weyerhaeuser take their turns in the earnings spotlight early Friday. Analysts are looking for revenue from each to be down sharply from a year ago, but for the former to have an earnings decline as well, while EPS from the latter are flat. Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter.