The Week Ahead: Earnings Season Kicks Off

The Economic Calendar is fairly light, with Thursday’s International Trade figures and Friday’s Retail Sales report being the most likely market movers.

The Earnings Calendar starts to heat up, with Alcoa (AA) launching earnings season on Monday. The reports I am interested in include:

• Indian Outsourcer Infosys (INFY) reports on Tuesday. The $0.40 consensus estimate factors in slowing growth, but the degree of earnings surprise has been narrowing in recent quarters. Given my own experience with outsourcing recently and the general employee retention issues, I think we’ll see some disappointments in this sector over the next couple of quarters.
• LG Phillips LCD (LPL) also reports on Tuesday. Analysts are expecting a loss, and I don’t think they will be disappointed. The next couple of quarters could finally start to be profitable ones.
• Genentech (DNA), which I own in my personal account, reports on Wednesday. They should beat the $0.71 consensus number, but the cancer treatment approvals aren’t coming as fast and furiously as they used to.

Disclosure: author is long Genentech at time of publication.