Signs, sales, and software will play more than just bit parts in the week that lies ahead. Let's take a closer look.
Monday
If you're Gerber Scientific (NYSE:GRB), you probably wouldn't mind putting fiscal 2005 behind you. That's what the company will do as it kicks off the new trading week. After back-to-back quarterly deficits for the periods ending in October and January, the specialist in sign-making equipment can only hope that the next sign it helps put up is a red one that says "STOP." Revenues have come in flat through the first nine months of the company's fiscal year, and it would have been even worse if not for favorable currency translations.
Tuesday
Despite what will amount to a slow week on the earnings front, two killer Bs will report on Tuesday. Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and BMC (NYSE:BMC), both components of the S&P 500, will produce their latest financials.
Best Buy was a Wall Street darling through the 1990s. However, slowing growth has taken its toll; the stock is trading for not much more than it was five years ago. The consumer-electronics superstore chain is still a quality retailer, but it is hoping to cure its hiccups. To that end, it's busy converting its stores to a customer-centric operating model that tweaks the format so that different stores will appeal to different shopper segments.
BMC also misses the '90s. The enterprise-software provider has suffered even more than Best Buy on this side of the millennium. A dearth of corporate IT spending and stiff competition has sent the company reeling, to the point at which its share price has been sliced in half. But to the company's credit, it has been able to produce consistent profitability.
Wednesday
These days, Tommy Hilfiger (NYSE:TOM) is focusing on smaller sizes. Earlier this year, the company announced a 20% reduction in its workforce to offset its troubled domestic wholesale business. The stock, too, has gone through some shrinkage in the wash. While it's easy to write this one off as yet another fickle preppie fashion disaster, the company is certainly not looking to go down without a fight. Just last month, the company took advantage of the real estate boom by selling its building on New York City's trendy Fifth Avenue for $48 million. Yes, the slimming process continues.
Thursday
Improving digital publishing has been an important part of Adobe Systems' (NASDAQ:ADBE) growth strategy over the years. If you have never come across an online file that required the installation of Adobe Acrobat Reader, no offense, but you just haven't been around. The company has been a huge long-term winner. If you had invested $10,000 in the company when it went public back in 1986, you would be sitting on more than $600,000 today. Yes, Adobe has been a 60-bagger. It makes for a pretty picture. If the company blinks? No worries. This is also the same company behind Photoshop.
Friday
You can get a head start on your weekend, since just a handful of overseas companies will be hitting the earnings podium on Friday. Go and catch the new Batman flick at a cheaper matinee price. Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) certainly wouldn't mind. The proven superhero franchise is likely to stand out in a busy summer season at the multiplex. Batman Begins opens this week. If you see the bat signal in the sky, that's probably where the ticket line ends.
Want to learn more about the companies waiting to report earnings this week? Check out:
Until next week, I remain,
Best Buy and Time Warner are recommendations of the Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz can be a bit of a Joker from time to time. 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.
