Earnings Expectations for the Week of April 29

First-quarter results from General Motors GM will be one of the highlights on the earnings front this week. Analysts anticipate that the carmaker will say Thursday its revenue slipped about three percent from a year ago to $36.60 billion, but that earnings fell from $0.93 per share a year ago to $0.54 per share. Facebook FB is expected to post EPS of $0.13 on revenues $1.44 billion Wednesday afternoon. Four media giants step into the earnings spotlight Wednesday as well. Analysts are looking for revenue that rose more than two percent to $4.02 billion and earnings per share (EPS) more than 20 percent higher than a year ago to $0.68 from CBS CBS. Viacom's VIAB top line is forecast to be down more than four percent year-over-year to $3.29 billion, while the bottom line slipped from a year-ago's $0.98 per share to $0.95 per share for the most recent quarter. Comcast's CMCSA first-quarter forecast for calls for $0.50 EPS on revenue on $15.41 billion, compared with $0.45 per share and $14.88 billion in the year-ago period. Time Warner TWX is expected to post $0.74 EPS on $7.12 billion in revenue. That would be up year-over-year from EPS of $0.67 and $6.98 billion. Monday after the closing bell, Herbalife HLF, the focus of recent activist investor squabbling, is expected to report that its EPS came to $1.07 in the first quarter, while revenue totaled $1.11 billion. That would be up from $0.88 per share and $0.96 billion in the same period of last year. On Wednesday, MasterCard MA is scheduled to report before the opening bell, while competitor Visa V shares its results after the markets close. They are projected to report per-share earnings of $6.17 and $1.81, respectively. That would be up about 13 percent for the former and more than 11 percent for the latter, relative to a year ago. MasterCard revenue is expected to be up more than nine percent year-over-year to $1.93 billion, while that of Visa is more than 10 percent higher to $2.85 billion. Analysts anticipate that Seagate Technology STX will say its revenue fell about 24 percent from a year ago to $3.38 billion, and that fiscal third-quarter earnings plunged from $2.64 per share a year ago to $1.15 per share. Seagate is scheduled to share its results on Wednesday afternoon. Kellogg K is predicted to report year-over-year EPS growth of less than eight percent to $1.03 before the opening bell Thursday. Its revenue is expected to be more than 14 percent higher to $3.94 billion. Then later in the day, Kraft Foods KRFT, which was spun off from the old Kraft Foods last year, is expected to report first-quarter earnings per share of $0.64 and revenues of $4.49 billion. The first-quarter forecast for Archer Daniels Midland ADM calls for EPS to come in at $0.52, while revenue totaled $21.41 billion. That compares to $0.78 per share and $21.16 billion in the same period of last year. ADM reports first thing Tuesday morning. Pfizer PFE and Merck MRK also are on tap to share their first-quarter results this week. Analysts are looking for revenue declines of about six percent to $14.00 billion and more than five percent to $11.09 billion, respectively. Pfizer's consensus bottom line forecast is $0.56 per share, down marginally from a year ago, while that of Merck calls for $0.79 per share, or about 20 percent lower. Year-over-year EPS and revenue growth is expected from Express Scripts ESRX, which is scheduled to report Monday after the markets close. The consensus estimates are for $0.97 EPS on $25.55 billion, which would be almost 25 percent and more than 110 percent higher, respectively. Also look for first-quarter reports this week from petroleum players Marathon Petroleum MPC, Phillips 66 PSX and Valero Energy VLO. Marathon's forecast: $2.16 per share on $19.80 billion, compared to $1.70 per share and $20.26 billion in the year-ago quarter. For Phillips 66: EPS of $1.89 and sales of $41.44, compared to $1.04 and $45.78 billion a year ago. And Valero: EPS up more than 86 percent year-over-year to $0.98 and revenue more than 13 percent higher to $30.41 billion. Tuesday morning, United States Steel X is expected to post a net loss of $0.19, as well as $4.66 billion in revenue for its first quarter. That would be down from a profit of $0.67 and revenue of $5.17 billion in the year-ago period. Other companies that analysts believe will report year-over-year earnings growth this week include ADP ADP, Aetna AET, Avon Products AVP, Clorox CLX, Gilead Sciences GILD, LinkedIn LNKD, Marriot International MAR and McGraw-Hill MHP. Earnings declines are expected from AIG AIG, Allstate ALL, Estee Lauder EL, MetLife MET, Newmont Mining NEM, Starwood Hotels HOT and Western Union WU. And Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia MSO and Vulcan Materials VMC are expected to post net losses.