If you're up to your neck in quarterly reports, it's not just you. It really is raining financial statements. We're in the heart of earnings season, with some days featuring hundreds of companies talking about their March quarter.
I would like to showcase some of the smaller, fast-growing companies that I am eager to hear from this week. If you are familiar with our Rule Breakers newsletter service, you probably know where I'm coming from. Spotting great companies early in their revolutionary aspirations can be risky, but oh-so-rewarding when you're right.
One report that I will definitely be all over is Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE:BBW). The popular specialty retailer of made-to-order teddy bears reported a solid fourth quarter earlier this year and is on track to grow earnings to at least $1.29 a share this year. That represents a 31% surge in profits -- though it translates to a mere 20% gain in earnings per share because of the greater number of shares outstanding after the company's recent IPO. With the stock priced at 19-20 times its projected 2005 earnings, I won't be hibernating for too long if the company continues on its ambitious growth path.
Another company that I've liked for awhile is CNET (NASDAQ:CNET). The online publisher behind active sites like News.com, Download.com and MySimon has been a beneficiary of the migration of consumers and sponsors to the Internet. The company will report today after the market close, and I'll pick apart the report and get back to you on this one tomorrow morning.
RC2 (NASDAQ:RCRC) may seem like an unlikely potential Rule Breaker. You wouldn't be alone if this were the first time you had ever heard about the company. No, it's not some android from next month's Star Wars flick. The RC stands for Racing Champions. That is what the company used to be called when it specialized in making NASCAR-licensed replica cars. Yes, the company is still doing that, and that may be compelling in itself, given the popularity of auto racing these days. However, two years ago, the company grabbed my attention in a hurry when it acquired then-privately held Learning Curve. That's a company that always wound up with way too much of my money, as my youngest son was -- and still is -- fascinated by the "Thomas the Tank Engine" line of licensed trains, tracks, and accessories. Earnings have exploded as a result of the deal, and the stock has tripled in that time.
Others I'll be watching will include Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ:MNST), the leading online job search site, and Chinese travel specialist Ctrip.com (NASDAQ:CTRP). While our Rule Breakers newsletter has already singled out two fast-growing companies in China -- and I am more excited about the potential of those two -- Ctrip offers another potential play into the area's growth.
So, no, I don't plan on getting much rest this week. I guess I should almost be grateful that one of my favorite companies -- AskJeeves (NASDAQ:ASKJ) -- is in the process of being acquired, so I won't have to pay too much attention to what it has to say this week. Then again, who am I kidding? I'll be all over that report as well.
Some more required reading to gear up for another busy week of earnings:
- Read up on Build-A-Bear's last quarter.
- Learn how Racing Champions Ertl became RC2.
- Check out the companies that have already made the cut to become Rule Breakers recommendations.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz loves earnings season because he always remembers to pack a poncho. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
