The Fool's Look Ahead

Monday
The final trading month of the year kicks off on Monday with CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) in the spotlight. The company may be far removed from its days as a venture-capital incubator during the Internet bubble, but at least it's profitable in its more sedate incarnation. Analysts expect the company to earn $0.10 a share for the quarter, half of what it rang up a year earlier.

Tuesday
On Tuesday, AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) pulls in for a pit stop. The Memphis-based auto-parts retailer is on a roll, with share repurchases helping offset recent sales-growth weakness. The market is looking for a 10% spike in quarterly profits, to $1.91 a share. It will be interesting to hear what the company thinks of rival Pep Boys' (NYSE: PBY) announced store closures. Is it an opportunity for AutoZone, or a warning of the industry's softness? Let's see whether Tuesday packs an answer.

Wednesday
We turn to computer networking pioneer Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) on Wednesday. Wall Street expects Novell to post net income of just $0.04 a share in the fourth quarter. Shareholders may be dreaming bigger than that, especially after the company trounced analyst profit targets the two previous quarters.

Thursday
House, or house on wheels? I'll let you decide as both Fleetwood (NYSE: FLE) and Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) report on Thursday. Neither should be pretty. Real estate developer Toll is expected to post its first quarterly loss since the last housing-market downturn. The deficits will likely continue until the market bottoms out. Fleetwood is no stranger to the red ink, either. This should mark the RV giant's sixth consecutive quarterly loss.

Friday
The first trading week of December wraps up ICO (Nasdaq: ICOC). The synthetic-materials specialist appears to be the real thing, with earnings projected to climb 50% to $0.15 a share for the quarter. It's ambitious, but ICO has also handily beat the market's estimates for the past two quarters.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz