The Fool's Look Ahead

Shopping, search, and supermarkets will color in the week that lies ahead.

Monday
The market is closed in observance of Presidents Day. Look at the bright side: At least you can be sure the stateside indexes won't tank on Monday.

Tuesday
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) kicks off the abridged trading week. Yes, the discount department store has been able to keep its registers ringing during the recession, but will it affect margins? Analysts see the company earning $0.99 a share for the holiday quarter, just shy of the $1.04 a share it earned a year earlier.

Wednesday
With a friendly nod to China, Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) checks in. Despite a rocky close to 2008, analysts still expect Baidu's fourth-quarter profits to climb 54% to $1.34 a share. There is a lot of uncertainty baked into that number, so look for the stock to move on the news of the company posting higher or lower profitability.

Other companies that should post higher quarterly profits on Wednesday include Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and travel portal Priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN). If you're a glutton for organic punishment, Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFMI) is also reporting. The pros think the grocer will earn $0.15 a share for its latest quarter, a little more than half what it earned a year ago. Then again, the stock has been hit so hard that even a whiff of good news or even so-so news may move the shares higher.

Thursday
Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) weighs in. Gold may be growing in popularity as a hedge against market volatility, but this gold producer doesn't seem to be cashing in. Wall Street is braced for the company to post lower quarterly earnings.

Friday
It's not just Newmont coming in weak with the bling. Industry analysts see Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) also posting roughly half of the net income it generated a year ago. I guess all that glitters isn't gold stocks.

Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz