Earnings Highlights for the Week of May 30

Things will be fairly quiet on the earnings front this holiday-shortened week as the spring earnings season winds down. Joy Global JOYG and SAIC SAI are the only S&P 500 components currently on the scheduled to report quarterly results this week. The latter is expected to post earnings per share about the same as a year ago, while the former, like the other companies on the following list, is expected to report earnings growth from the same period of a year ago. Cascade CASC: up 37.8% to $0.82 per share Diamond Foods DMND: up 37.5% to $0.48 per share ENERSYS ENS: up 35.7% to $0.70 per share Cooper Companies COO: up 34.4% to $0.93 per share VeriFone Systems PAY: up 32.6% to $0.43 per share Copart CPRT: up 31.4% to $0.70 per share Phillips Van Heusen PVH: up 28.4% to $1.16 per share Dollar General DG: up 16.0% to $0.50 per share Esterline Technologies ESL: up 10.9% to $ 1.10 per share Joy Global JOYG: up 14.8% to $1.35 per share United Natural Foods UNFI: up 6.3% to $0.48 per share Also, analysts expect that Lions Gate Entertainment LGF will have swung to a profit from a year-ago loss, while Shanda Interactive Entertainment SNDA will report a year-over-year earnings decline. Below is a closer look at what analyst are expecting from three of this week's most anticipated quarterly reports. Joy Global This Milwaukee-based manufacturer of mining equipment is forecast to post fiscal second-quarter earnings of $1.35 per share on revenues of $1.0 billion. That is up from $1.15 per share and $896.2 million in the same period of last year. Analysts have underestimated Joy Global earnings in most recent quarters, and so far they anticipate sequential and year-over-year growth of earnings and revenue in the third quarter. The long-term earnings per share growth forecast is 15.3% and the return on equity is 42.6%. Joy Global announced the acquisition of LeTourneau Technologies earlier this month. Analysts on average have recommended buying JOYG for more than 90 days. They currently have a mean price target of $107.53, which gives the stock plenty of room to run from $89.20 at Friday's close. Year to date, the stock has outperformed the broader markets. Diamond Foods Analysts are looking for this producer of nuts and other snack foods to report fiscal third-quarter earnings of $0.48 per share on revenues of $216.6 million. That is up from $0.30 per share and $138.7 million in the same period of last year. Earnings per share have increased in each of the past four quarters, topping consensus estimates each time. Looking ahead to the full year, the forecast currently calls for earnings of $2.52 per share (up 15.2%) and revenues of $938.2 million (up 37.9%). Diamond Foods has a price-to-earnings ratio that is much less than the food and beverage industry average, as well as a long-term earnings per share growth forecast of 16.2%. The company acquired the Pringles brand from Procter & Gamble PG back in April, a transaction that will triple the size of Diamond's snack business. The consensus recommendation of analysts is to buy DMND. The share price hit a 52-week high of $75.92 on Friday after rising more than 40% since the beginning of the year. Dollar General The consensus forecast calls for this small-town retailer to report fiscal first-quarter per-share earnings of $0.52, which is up from $0.42 per share in the same period of last year. Analysts also expect to see revenues of $3.4 billion, an increase of 9.9% from a year ago. Note that Dollar General earnings have been better than expected in the past five quarters, beating estimates by as much as 8 cents per share. Dollar General has a long-term earnings per share growth forecast of 16.4% and a return on equity of 16.9%. Its price/earnings-to-growth ratio is 0.9, suggesting that the stock is undervalued. The company announced last week that it will open stores in California in 2012, bringing its reach coast-to-coast. Dollar General also has a consensus buy recommendation and has for more than 90 days. The analysts' mean price target is $36.50 per share. The share price ended last week $34.66, just shy of its high since Dollar General went public in 2009. In the past three months, the stock has outperformed larger competitor Walmart WMT as well as the broader markets.