Recs

1

More Stuffing for Earnings Season

The earnings reports keep on coming!

I just went over seven companies that analysts see posting higher quarterly results this week than they did a year earlier. The economy has been a tough puppy to turn around, but these companies are finding ways to grow.

Thankfully, there are a lot more than seven companies that are pegged to post year-over-year gains on the bottom line this week.

Let's look at a few more.

Company

Latest Quarter's EPS (Estimated)

Year-Ago Quarter's EPS

FactSet Research (NYSE: FDS  )

$0.74

$0.73

Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV  )

($1.40)

($5.79)

Bio-Reference Labs (Nasdaq: BRLI  )

$0.46

$0.38

General Mills (NYSE: GIS  )

$1.44

$1.36

Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR  )

($0.05)

($0.41)

Winnebago (NYSE: WGO  )

($0.07)

($0.33)

CarMax (NYSE: KMX  )

$0.15

($0.10)

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

These are companies in vastly different industries. From cereal giants to used-car retailers, and from recreational vehicles to home furnishings, it's a healthy cross-section of sectors that are serving up winners these days.

Homebuilder Hovnanian, RV giant Winnebago, and home goods retailer Pier 1 are still posting losses, but their deficits are narrowing quite substantially. Hovnanian still has a long way to go before demand for new homes bounces back, but analysts see Pier 1 and Winnebago back in black next year.

As 2009 lunges its way to the finish line, we can find plenty of companies in better shape than they were a year ago. As long as these companies meet or exceed Wall Street's profit targets, we can look forward to a stronger start for 2010.

Which of these seven companies do you think will keep improving in 2010? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

The Fool owns shares of FactSet Research, which is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation. CarMax is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz wonders whether his contrarian heart will ever be happy. He owns no shares in any of the companies in this story and is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.


Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Be the first one to comment on this article.

Compare Brokers

Fool Disclosure

DocumentId: 1066367, ~/Articles/ArticleHandler.aspx, 5/25/2012 9:43:45 PM

Report This Comment

Use this area to report a comment that you believe is in violation of the community guidelines. Our team will review the entry and take any appropriate action.

Sending report...

Today's Market

updated 27 minutes ago Sponsored by:
DOW 12,454.83 -74.92 -0.60%
S&P 500 1,317.82 -2.86 -0.22%
NASD 2,837.53 -1.85 -0.07%

Create My Watchlist

Go to My Watchlist

You don't seem to be following any stocks yet!

Better investing starts with a watchlist. Now you can create a personalized watchlist and get immediate access to the personalized information you need to make successful investing decisions.

Data delayed up to 5 minutes

Related Tickers

5/25/2012 4:00 PM
KMX $29.11 Up +0.09 +0.31%
CarMax, Inc. CAPS Rating: ****
PIR $17.06 Up +0.15 +0.89%
Pier 1 Imports, In… CAPS Rating: *
WGO $9.08 Up +0.01 +0.11%
Winnebago Industri… CAPS Rating: **
HOV $1.89 Up +0.03 +1.61%
Hovnanian Enterpri… CAPS Rating: *
BRLI $20.38 Up +0.04 +0.20%
Bio-Reference Labo… CAPS Rating: ****
FDS $108.01 Up +0.97 +0.91%
FactSet Research S… CAPS Rating: ****
GIS $39.08 Up +0.10 +0.26%
General Mills, Inc… CAPS Rating: *****

Advertisement