Will Delta And Pepsi Set Tone For New Earnings Season?

• The new earnings season kicks off on Friday when the first big banks report their results.
• Before that, a leading airline is expected to share its latest quarterly numbers.
• Also a snack and beverage giant takes its turn on the earnings stage.

The second-quarter results reporting season is set to kick off at the end of the week, when the first of the big banks begin to take their turns in the earnings spotlight. But even before then, a couple of other quarterly reports may offer a peek at what to expect from the new earnings season.

For the period when Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL faced PR troubles of its own and that saw the call from the president to privatize air traffic control, Wall Street analysts are looking for year-over-year growth on its bottom line.

On the other hand, the consensus forecast for PepsiCo, Inc. PEP calls for the results that are only a little better than the same period of last year. The company recently was seen as a potential takeover target, and it suffered a PR kerfuffle as well in the period.

Delta Air Lines

When this Atlanta-based company shares its second-quarter results before the opening bell on Thursday, the analysts on average predict that it will post $1.64 per share in earnings. That compares to the $0.77 reported in the prior quarter and $1.47 a year ago. And the $10.78 billion in expected revenue would be the highest in the past six quarters. Note that analysts underestimated revenue results in the past two quarters.

The forecast from 48 Estimize respondents sees earnings per share at the $1.67, and their consensus revenue estimate for the most recent period is $10.81 billion. That would be up from $9.15 billion reported in the prior quarter, as well as the $10.44 billion posted in the second quarter of last year.

See also: Benzinga's Bulls & Bears For The Past Week: Tesla And The Auto Parts Retailers

PepsiCo

Wall Street's consensus forecast calls for EPS at this maker of Cheetos and Gatorade to have inched up a nickel from in the same period of last year to $1.40. The 37 Estimize respondents have a consensus estimate of $1.42 for the three months that ended in June. Note that EPS results topped both Estimize and Wall Street expectations in the previous few periods.

Estimize underestimated revenue in the prior quarter, and this time the respondents are looking for $15.64 billion. That would be up from the $15.39 billion reported in the year-ago quarter, and it compares to the $15.60 billion Wall Street forecast. Look for Pepsi to share its second-quarter results early Tuesday.

And Others

Then Friday morning, the new earnings season gets into high gear when Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo share their latest results. Wall Street analysts expect to see bottom-line growth only from JPMorgan.

Other companies predicted to show at least some year-over-year earnings growth when they report this week include Fastenal, Infosys and PNC Financial Services.

The following week, keep an eye out for reports from American Express, Bank of America, General Electric, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Netflix, Visa and many more as the earnings crunch begins.