Two major kickoffs are being celebrated Monday. After the close of the market, Alcoa
Essentially all of us will pay passing attention to Alcoa's results, since they'll provide at least a moderate signal of our economy's strength, along with the trends that we might expect as other corporate teams line up to disclose their results. The prerelease betting is that the Pittsburgh-based aluminum manufacturer is set to toss good news our way as we run our respective fade routes.
Rather than run the gamut of companies that'll soon tell us about their quarters, let's focus on my favorite sector, one that I'm convinced should be represented in all Foolish portfolios: energy. If you're an aficionado of this important industry, you'll be pleased to know that, despite its tribulations during the second half of 2010, results from the sector are widely expected to improve year-on-year.
Let's turn to oilfield services king Schlumberger
Beyond that, as my Foolish colleague Bryan White noted last week, Schlumberger is likely to benefit from increased spending by both national and the public majors, given its "one-stop shop convenience" that benefits the companies in the upstream portion of the business.
Turning to the U.S. members of Big Oil, ConocoPhillips
But since investing involves assessing the future, rather than peering into the rearview mirror, I'm inclined to side with the crew at Morgan Stanley. Their wager is that crude prices will top $100 a barrel in the year we've just begun. They base their forecast on a steady reduction in the spare production capacity among the members of OPEC.
A movement in crude prices -- along with an eventual rebound in natural gas -- will likely boost share prices in all the big energy companies set to report. As such, I suggest that Fools pay close attention to the coming round of earnings reports from the world of Big Oil and oilfield services.