Earnings Expectations for the Week of April 8

The new earnings season gets underway this week, with Alcoa AA on deck late Monday and J.P. Morgan JPN scheduled to report first-quarter results Friday morning. By and large, analysts expect to see a year-over-year decline in per-share earnings from the former, but EPS growth, relative to a year ago, from the latter. Alcoa This New York City-based leading aluminum producer is expected to report Monday afternoon that for its first quarter of 2013 it saw a profit of $0.08 per share. That compares with earnings per share (EPS) of $0.10 in the same period of the previous year. Note that the consensus EPS forecast has slipped in the past 30 days from $0.11 per share. Analysts on average expect first-quarter revenues to total $5.89 billion, which would be down about two percent from a year ago. But that would reverse a three-period streak of declining quarterly revenues. J.P. Morgan In its Friday morning report, the first of the big banks to share its first-quarter results is expected report earnings of $1.39 per share. That would be more than 14 percent higher than in the year-ago quarter. The sentiment is different here, as the analysts' consensus EPS estimate has risen over the past 60 days from $1.36. Fourth-quarter revenues are expected to total $25.94 billion, though that would be more than five percent lower than a year ago. Looking ahead, analysts so far see more than 10 percent growth in revenue for the current quarter, compared to the year-ago period. And Others Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY. The consensus forecast calls for EPS to be up about 12 percent year-over-year to $1.68, with sales up more than 24 percent to $3.39 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter. The company missed consensus EPS expectations in one of the past four quarters. The domestics retailer is scheduled to report Wednesday after the markets close. CarMax KMX. Analysts on average expect this used auto retailer to report Wednesday morning that its per-share earnings rose more than 10 percent to $0.46 and revenue increased more than 10 percent year-over-year to $2.73 billion in its fourth quarter. But note that analysts overestimated CarMax's EPS in two of the previous four quarters. Constellation Brands STZ. This producer and distributor of alcoholic beverages is expected to post $0.45 per share earnings and sales of $666.57 million for the fiscal fourth quarter. That compares with $0.69 per share and $628.10 million in revenue in the same period of last year. In the previous quarter, EPS topped the consensus estimate by more than 14 percent. The company will share its results Wednesday morning. Family Dollar FDO. This discount store operator is expected to post a second-quarter profit of $1.23 per share, up year-over-year from $1.15, while revenues rose more than 17 percent from the year-ago period to $2.89 billion. However, EPS fell well short of analysts' expectations in two of the previous four quarters. This retailer is scheduled to share its results Wednesday before the opening bell. Fastenal FAST. Analysts on average expect this purveyor of industrial and construction supplies to report Wednesday morning that its EPS increased about eight percent year-over-year to $0.37. Revenue is forecast to be about six percent higher to $815.10 million in its first quarter. Analysts' EPS estimates were in line with results in the previous two quarters. PriceSmart PSMT. The consensus forecast calls for EPS to be about 13 percent higher year-over-year to $0.77, with sales up almost 11 percent to $609.67 million for the fiscal second quarter. The company missed consensus EPS expectations in two of the past four quarters. The warehouse club operator reports Tuesday after the closing bell. Others expected to report earnings growth this week include electrical equipment maker AZZ AZZ, Bank of the Ozarks OZRK, J.B. Hunt Transport Services JBHT, Pier 1 Imports PIR and Titan Machinery TITN. The earnings crunch ramps up the following week, with first-quarter results due from big banks Bank of America BAC, Citigroup C and Goldman Sachs GS, tech companies IBM IBM, Intel INTC, Google GOOG, Microsoft MST and Verizon Communications VZ, as well as from Coca-Cola KO, General Electric GE, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, McDonald's MCD and many others.