24/7 Wall St.’s Look Ahead – What to expect the week of May 14th

Another great week on Wall Street and some encouraging words from the Federal Reserve Bank that inflation appears to be under control and future Interest Rate cuts could happen in 2007. However everyone seems to be interpreting the Fed’s words and actions differently. On Friday retail sales fell and former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan issued a fresh warning that we could be heading for recession. Greenspan who clocks $100,000 for each speaking engagement, sees a 2-to-1 chance the U.S. will avoid a recession even as the economy slows. Speaking of making money, on Sept. 17th, Greenspan will have his memoir The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World published by Penguin Press. The unit of Pearson reportedly paid him an $8.5 million advance for the book, which is believed to be the No. 2 advance for a nonfiction book, second only to the $10 million advance given to former President Bill Clinton for his memoir. Enough about Greenspan, let’s take a quick look ahead at the companies reporting next week:

Reporting on Monday (5/14):
– Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ)
– Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. (DMH) – and on the 7th day, after God rested, he created Ducati motorcycles, and thus it was so.
– PokerTek, Inc. (PTEK) – Their PokerPro® poker table that shuffles, deals, splits pots and generates side pots instantly. Forget tipping and dealing with crappy dealers, the future will be ruled by Terminators, R2-D2’s, and PokerPros.

– Smurfit Sisa (SMU.MI) – How carefully did they think about naming that company, at least do a Google search before you file for a corporation? Feeling Smurfy? Visit Smurf.com and if you can stand it for more than 10 minutes you win a free Ducati Bike. Not from us, but I’m sure someone will buy you one.

– Meridian Bioscience (VIVO) splits before market open with a 3:2 ratio (expect to see a full analysis next week to inform you if you should think about picking up some shares after the split)

Reporting on Tuesday (5/15):
– DaimlerChrysler (DCX) – Smart Car anyone?
– Applied Materials (AMAT)
– Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (CNK) – Because movie tickets aren’t expensive enough. Maybe if they miss the quarter they can just make all tickets $20, that would raise net income.
– eLong Inc (LONG) – They can’t do much worse on this call, or can they?
– Fossil, Inc. (FOSL)
and big boys…
– Home Depot (HD)
– Wal-Mart (WMT) – If you missed Jon Ogg’s article or CNBC interview, take a quick look at Defending Wal-Mart on CNBC (WMT, TGT, BRK/A). If you have a position in Wal-Mart heading into the earnings call I would suggest reviewing Jon’s latest articles and interviews regarding the retail giant – here’s more.

Wednesday (5/16) is all Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
– Federated Department Stores Inc. (FD)
– Jack in the Box (JBX)
– Napster (NAPS)
– PetSmart (PETM) – Remember the Pet Food Crisis in March? By the end of March, veterinary organizations reported more than 100 pet deaths amongst nearly 500 cases of kidney failure. Think PetSmart profited by that?

Reporting on Thursday (5/17):
– J.C. Penney (JCP)
– Kohl’s (KSS)
– Nordstrom (JWN) – Same-store sales in April rose 3.1 percent and last quarter they blasted the estimates. Think they can do it again?
– Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL)

Reporting on Friday (5/18):
British Airways (BAB) – The most unique and strongest Airline company on earth. Shares of BAB have risen 51% in the last year.
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (RDY) – catchy name.

Frank Lara Jr.

Frank Lara Jr. can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.