Stores, software, and surfing the Web will have starring roles in the week that lies ahead.

Monday
The new trading week kicks off with Perfect World (Nasdaq: PWRD) reporting. The fast-growing online gaming company is on a tear in China. Analysts see the Web-savvy company posting a quarterly profit of $0.83 a share, well ahead of the $0.31 a share it earned a year ago.

The bottom-line target may be high, but online gaming pioneer NetEase.com (Nasdaq: NTES) just came through with a larger-than-expected profit this past Wednesday. This bodes well for Perfect World and the other Chinese gaming stocks.

Tuesday
Homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV) has its open house on Tuesday. Like the real estate developers that have already delivered their quarterly financials, Wall Street expects Hovnanian to post a substantially narrower loss than it did a year ago. Residential builders obviously have some time to go before they're actually profitable again, though less red ink is always welcome.

Wednesday
Take-Two (Nasdaq: TTWO) hopes to get it right in a single take on Wednesday. The software company behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise -- and this month's release of Bioshock 2 -- is expected to post another sharp quarterly deficit. The meaty takeaway will be the software publisher's outlook on the video game industry as a whole.

Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) also hits the register on Wednesday. The superstore chain has thrived during the recession, as thrifty patrons warm up to the retailer's collection of closeouts and clearance items. The pros are banking on Big Lots' profit climbing 28% for the holiday-spiked quarter.

Thursday
Wendy's/Arby's (NYSE: WEN) may be promoting its new bleu cheese burger, but there should be nothing blue about its latest quarterly report come Thursday. It expects to post a meager profit, reversing a steep year-ago loss.

Friday
New Gold (AMEX: NGD) wraps up the trading week with its quarterly numbers. Given investor enthusiasm over the yellow metal -- and not just because of the concluding Winter Olympics -- it doesn't matter that New Gold is a small player in this space. Every report helps paint a more accurate picture of the gold industry as a whole.

Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz