7 Reasons Not to Worry This Week

Maybe there is more to this Thanksgiving holiday than meets the eye.

I recently went over seven bellwethers that are expected to post lower earnings than they did a year earlier this week. It's a sharp contrast to the past few months of heady stock gains.

There are exceptions, thankfully. If you know where to look, the next few days can also be an uplifting experience. Let's go over seven publicly traded companies that are expected to stand tall this week.

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Clearing the table
Let's start at the top.

Hewlett-Packard has been blowing away analysts since CEO Mark Hurd took over the company, which is clearly no longer in disarray. The common belief was that PC makers would be slumping until the recent release of Windows 7, but HP has posted year-over-year gains in all but one quarter since Hurd came over.

Borders is a popular death pool candidate, but let's cut the struggling superstore some slack. Analysts see the bookstore chain posting a narrower deficit than it did a year ago. Borders still has near-term debt issues and long-term viability concerns, but it's doing what it can to claw its way out of a serious hole.

Dollar Tree isn't in the same quagmire. Thrift stores have been "buck"-ing the trend during the recession, as consumers seek out chains where limited discretionary income can go a long way.

Eaton Vance is a mutual fund manager. This makes sense. The industry was hit with the double-whammy of falling net asset values and massive redemptions when the market tanked last year. It's only fitting that Eaton Vance is bouncing back now that investors are buying back into equities.

J. Crew is the stylish retailer that arms preppies and hipsters with casual duds. Cashmere sweaters and leather jackets aren't cheap, so it's actually surprising to see J. Crew holding up well while even some of the moderate- price mall tenants are struggling.

Medtronic is the medical device maker that went on a shopping spree earlier this year. Snapping up a pair of heart-valve replacement specialists in February was a timely move, just before the markets began to rally. Analysts see Medtronic's bottom line growing by 10% in tomorrow's quarterly report.

Conn's is a regional consumer electronics chain. After Circuit City's springtime demise, there was a lot of market share ripe for the taking. Conn's is pegged to deliver a substantially smaller loss than it posted a year ago. Don't sweat the red ink. This is a seasonal company that should make a killing during the holiday quarter.

Cross those fingers, but know the fundamentals
Investors in these seven stocks have every reason to be excited, but these companies also have a lot on their shoulders. The market is assuming that the news will be upbeat, and that baked-in optimism can be problematic if the financials don't live up to the hype.

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