We may have had earnings season officially start with Alcoa this week, but next week will be the real week for the launch of earnings season.  We now have an index to track the top 500 companies by market cap on a real-time basis via the 24/7 Wall St. Real-Time 500, and these top 10 earnings next week are generally among the top market caps and/or trading volumes.  In technology we have to look forward to Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and IBM (NYSE: IBM).  General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is the conglomerate and Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is the oil entrant.  Financial leaders JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) are all due.  Tied to BioHealth are Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) on deck.

We have detailed the estimates on an earnings basis as far as estimates from Thomson Reuters, and we have also included how much these stocks have rallied since the start of the July quarter and how much these are up from the March 9 closing date that has been widely recognized as the last day of the mayhem before the rapid snap-back rally came into play.

Tuesday, October 13

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is the first of the tech giants to report.  Estimates are $0.27 EPS and $9.02 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.34 EPS on $9.5 billion in revenues.  Since the end of June this is up 22.5% and since the March 7 close this is up 63%.

Consumer products and medical and drug giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is the first to report in each group.  Consensus estimates are $1.13 EPS and $15.18 billion in revenues, while Q4 consensus is $0.98 EPS on $15.51 billion in revenues.  Since the end of June this is up almost 9% and since the March 9 close this is up 34%.

Wednesday, October 14

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT)    has a consensus figure of $0.90 EPS and $7.72 billion in revenues, while its Q4 is expected to be $1.17 EPS and $8.48 billion in revenues.  Abbott has greatly lagged the market. Since the end of June this is up 7.2% and since the March 9 close this is up 9.1%.

Jamie Dimon and friends at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is the first of the banking giants on deck.  Estimates are $0.49 EPS and $24.8 billion.  Since the end of June this is up almost 34% and since the March 9 close this is up 187%.

Thursday, October 15

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is no longer the top by market cap, but it is by far the most active stock of the big banks.  Estimates are -$0.21 EPS as of today.  Since the end of June this is up 55% and since the March 9 close this is up over 300%.

Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) is the first of the bulge bracket investment banking firms, or the bank holding companies with no banking operations.  Estimates today are $4.24 EPS.  Since the end of June this is up over 28% and since the March 9 close this is up 156%.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is expected to post earning of $5.37 EPS and revenues of $4.21 billion.  Google does not offer guidance. Since the end of June this is up 22.5% and since the March 9 close this is up 78%.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) is expected to report $2.38 EPS and $23.37 billion in revenues, and next quarter estimates are $3.38 EPS and $26.68 billion in revenues.  What we will look at most is its backlog, which was listed at June 30 as $132 billion at actual rates compared with $126 billion at March 31, 2009.  Since the end of June this is up 20% and since the March 9 close this is up 51%.

Friday, October 16

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) estimates keep changing, and the Ken Lewis departure is just another added wild card.  Estimates are currently -$0.06 EPS on about $27.5 billion in revenues.  Since the end of June this is up 32% and since the March 9 close this is up over 300%.

General Electric (NYSE: GE) is another wild card as the company does not like to offer guidance now.  We have consensus estimates at $0.20 EPS on about $40 billion in revenues.  Q4 estimates are $0.24 EPS and $42.58 billion in revenues.  GE Capital is the likely focus here as investors are going to be looking for continued profit discussions.  Since the end of June this is up 39% and since the March 9 close this is up 122%.

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) is the first of the oil services giants that we saw on deck.  Consensus estimates are $0.26 EPS on $3.42 billion in revenues.  Analysts have a hard time pinpointing this one through the year because of its location change and its change in international operations.   Since the end of June this is up 37% and since the March 9 close this is up 81%.

As a reminder, all of these estimates can and are likely to change some between now and the earnings dates as analysts make their last minute changes.  Peer earnings reports are also likely to create changes to some of the earnings and the whisper expectations for the companies.  There is also the chance that earnings dates can change and that other key stocks will try to report or make guidance comments ahead of their top competitors.

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JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 9, 2009

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