7 Reasons Not to Worry This Week

July is in the rearview mirror, and I owe you an apology.

If you caught my column on Friday, in which I singled out seven bellwethers that analysts see posting lower quarterly profits this week, I probably got you worried. If even quality stocks are letting their shareholders down, what's the point in being long in this already buoyant market?

Well, here comes the good news. Several companies, including some that you may very well own a piece of, are projected to grow their bottom lines this week.

Once again, I have a table and I'm not afraid to set it.

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Clearing the table
Let's start at the top. Grand Canyon Education is one of the few companies to have gone public over the past year. It has blown past Wall Street's expectations for its first two quarters as a public company, so the trend is favorable heading into next week's report. It's also toiling away in a growth industry -- Web-based learning -- that will be challenged by the likelihood of tighter regulatory scrutiny in the future. As long as Grand Canyon Education continues to land ahead of the pros, everything else should take care of itself.

D.R. Horton is a homebuilder. Stop laughing. Developers aren't bleeding as badly as they were last year. All four major residential builders that are stepping up to the earnings stage this week are projected to post narrower deficits. Horton and its peers have a way to go before they turn the corner and actually start making money again, but at least they're moving in the right direction.

Electronic Arts is another company that's gaining ground by losing less. Even that accomplishment is remarkable, because the once-robust video game industry has been shrinking in recent months.  

99 Cents Only is an obvious winner during lean times. Its massive sub-dollar stores offer goods, sundries, and even food items. With unemployment rising and the economic recovery still in doubt, 99 Cents Only will continue to be buzzing with penny pinchers.

Home Inns & Hotels is a growing hospitality company, but there's a caveat. You need to pack a passport and head to China to kick the tires. The hotel chain is growing quickly, positioned well as a value-priced lodging alternative in the world's largest nation. As China continues to evolve and its citizenry discovers the joys of travel, Home Inns should check in nicely.

Comcast is this country's leading cable television provider. This has historically been an all-weather industry, but sky-high cable bills and the emergence of networks that offer ad-supported programming online for free makes it vulnerable. Comcast isn't taking anything for granted: It's launching the gutsy TV Everywhere initiative to give active subscribers access to premium content streams at no additional cost.  

Finally, we have Sirius XM Radio tuning in. Wall Street sees the satellite-radio provider inching its way toward outright profitability. Subscriber counts may have peaked last year, but merger-related synergies and tactical rate increases are helping on both the top and bottom lines.

Cross those fingers, but know the fundamentals
There's going to be a flurry of earnings reports this week, so naturally you're going to have a few standouts. Some of the names on this list, including EA and Sirius XM Radio, may be surprises, especially given the brutal quarter the economy just went through and the reluctance of consumers to commit to former levels of discretionary spending.

The bad news is that these seven stocks have more pressure on them than the seven sinkers I singled out on Friday do. These companies are expected to post improving results. Since the optimism is already baked into their share prices, it's easier for them to slip. But why begin worrying about the companies that we aren't supposed to be worrying about?

As long as analysts know what they're doing, we'll be just fine.

A scary thought, I know.

Some other reads to get you through the week:

• 3 Reasons to Be Scared of These Stocks
• I Can Make You Rich in 3 Years
• The Perfect Investments for This Market

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