by Jared Levy on July 12, 2010
Buy, sell, hold?
The days of reckoning are upon us! So earnings season officially kicks off today with Alcoa’s (NYSE:AA) report. CSX Corporation (NYSE:CSX) and Novellus Systems (NASDAQ:NVLS) are on today’s schedule as well. As I write this at 6:00 a.m. Monday morning, futures in the S&P, DJX and Nasdaq are lower after a week’s worth of gains.
I wanted to take a couple of quick minutes today to highlight some things to remember and consider during earnings season as you make your decisions to buy, sell or hold. These things are also important to remember if you plan on employing an options strategy. Some high-profile companies that are scheduled to report this week are:
- INTC, YUM and FAST on Tuesday
- MAR on Wednesday
- AMD, JPM and GOOG on Thursday
- BAC, GCI, C and GE on Friday
There are many others reporting; the above issues are simply some of the more heavily followed. If you are wondering when a company of interest reports earnings, check out the OptionsHouse Research tab to locate the next earnings date under the “Events Calendar.” If none is posted, go to the company’s website, as some corporations may announce changes close to its report date or wait to disclose their exact earnings date.
Now that you know the relevant earnings date for your stocks, here are some factors to examine when deciding how to proceed:
- What are EPS expectations?
Take a look at not only the consensus estimates, but the range of EPS estimates and commentary offered by analysts.
- What has the stock done in past earnings reports?