Top 9 Earnings Previews for the Rest of the Week (T, MSFT, GE, HON, MCD, VZ, COF, CMG, PM)

We have already seen waves and waves of earnings reports this week, yet we have many more Dow Jones Industrial Average companies reporting earnings and several other key companies that investors and traders will be watching on Thursday and Friday.

We have detailed previews for the following companies: AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T); Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT); Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF); Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG); Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM); General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE); Honeywell International (NYSE: HON); McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD); and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).

Consensus estimates and the consensus analyst price targets have been compiled from Thomson Reuters.

Thursday, October 20

AT&T is due Thursday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.61 EPS and $31.62 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.58 EPS and $31.72 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $29.15, its 52-week trading range is $27.20 to $31.94 and analysts have a consensus price target of $32.33. With the current bias being against approval of the T-Mobile operations, we will be looking for guidance on that front. Other than that, investors have close to a 6% dividend yield.

Microsoft is due Thursday afternoon and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.68 EPS and $17.25 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.84 EPS and $21.21 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $27.15, its 52-week trading range is $23.65 to $29.46 and analysts have a consensus price target of $31.90. The dividend is now close to 3% but investors are still concerned about the PC market causing a slower upgrade cycle for Windows. The only hope is now that Intel offered enough of a PC-market buffer.

Some smaller large company reports to watch on Thursday are as follows:

Capital One Financial shares hit a 5-day low on Wednesday on worries of slower payments on credit cards in September and estimates are $1.68 EPS on $4.05 billion in sales. Keep in mind that it has been making acquisitions and that may alter the future of the company.

Chipotle Mexican Grill has been such a high flying stock that many traders are watching it as “the Apple of fast food.” Estimates are $1.85 EPS and $583.1 million, for the next quarter the estimates are $1.85 EPS and $584.45 million in sales.

Philip Morris International could see wild adjusted earnings due to currency fluctuations being so wild. The entirely non-US smoking giant is expected to report earnings of $1.24 EZPS and $7.57 billion in revenues.

Friday, October 21

General Electric is due Friday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.32 EPS and $34.86 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.40 EPS and $39.54 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $16.50, its 52-week trading range is $14.02 to $21.65 and analysts have a consensus price target that has slid further to $20.93. Keep in mind that GE shares have recovered about $2.50 per shares as recently as the lows of October 4.

Honeywell International is due Friday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates of $1.00 EPS and $9.26 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $1.08 EPS and $9.64 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $49.00, its 52-week trading range is $41.22 to $62.28 and analysts have a consensus price target of $58.61.

McDonald’s is due Friday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $1.43 EPS and $7.01 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $1.27 EPS and $6.73 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $89.75, its 52-week trading range is $72.14 to $91.22 and analysts still have a consensus price target of $97.90. We would pay very close attention to Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ARCO) on the news as it is a huge McDonald’s operator in the growing markets of Latin America.

Verizon is set to report earnings on Friday morning and Thomson Reuters has estimates for the DJIA component of $0.57 EPS and $27.91 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.58 EPS and $28.29 billion in revenue. Shares are trading around $37.00, its 52-week trading range is $31.60 to $38.95 and analysts have a consensus price target of $38.43. The issue we would bring up is whether or not the labor strike had any impact at all on operations.

JON C. OGG