Monday
Paychex
Tuesday
ModusLink Global Solutions
The important takeaway for Tuesday is that analysts see all three companies posting better bottom-line results than they did a year earlier.
Wednesday
OMNOVA Solutions
Thursday
MSCI
Investment-analytics specialist MSCI is on a roll. The specialist in equity-indexing tools blasted past analysts' profit targets three months ago. And after beating bottom-line expectations in five of the past six quarters, the odds are in MSCI's favor to surpass the $0.35 a share that analysts are banking on. Enterprise-software publisher Lawson, meanwhile, has consistently met or exceeded quarterly profit estimates for a few years now.
Friday
It's quiet on the earnings front Friday, so let's turn our attention instead to both the beginning of a new month and the final quarter of 2010.
If history is any kind of teacher, portfolio managers were window dressing their holdings yesterday to make sure that their third-quarter statements make them look good. That won't fool the savvy investors who will look through a basket of stocks and judge a mutual fund based on its actual performance.
It's been an interesting and volatile year in the market. Why should the fourth and final quarter be any different?
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz