The Fool's Look Ahead

Monday
Grocery stores are typically considered recession-resistant. Supermarkets work on thin margins and never hesitate to pass on rising food costs directly to their customers. Besides, consumers still need to eat. We'll see how Kroger (NYSE: KR) holds up on Monday. The supermarket chain is expected to post a profit of $0.41 a share, just ahead of the $0.38 it rang up a year ago.

Tuesday
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) delivers on Tuesday. The consumer-electronics superstore chain has survived -- and even thrived -- as smaller rivals have fallen on hard times. The retailer has finished ahead of Mr. Market's projections in each of the past four quarters, so momentum is on its side to come in slightly higher than the $0.57 per share in earnings that Wall Street's looking for. If you want something a little more tech-driven, publishing-software giant Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) also steps up to the earnings stage on Tuesday.

Wednesday
Earnings should be lower for investment banker Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) than they were a year ago, but what else is new in this space? At least it has earnings. If anything, the Wednesday conference call will probably be loaded with as many questions about Morgan Stanley's fiscal health as about its appetite to go after some of its wounded rivals.

Thursday
Speaking of appetites for smaller rivals, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) reports on Thursday. The enterprise-software giant is probably due for a purchase or two. What's a little sector consolidation between friends?

Oracle is having no problem growing in this environment. Analysts see it growing earnings by 23% to $0.27 a share in its fiscal first quarter.

Friday
It's a quiet Friday on the earnings front, so you may as well dig deeper into Thursday's reports. Other notable reporters that day include corporate-uniform rental leader Cintas (Nasdaq: CTAS) and delivery giant FedEx (NYSE: FDX).

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz