The coffee chain Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) is going to be releasing its fiscal third quarter results tomorrow following the market close. When the company announces its results analysts are going to be looking to see earnings per share of $0.21.

The last time that the company released earnings was on May 3 when the company matched analyst estimates with 19 cents per share for its fiscal second quarter. In fact, the company has only been able to match estimates for the last 3 quarters in a row, perhaps tomorrow it will finally be able to show estimate beating results. Earlier this month CIBC World Markets analyst John S. Glass told his clients to expect the company to once again match estimates.

The stock could definitely use a good release. Shares have been falling pretty steadily since last November as you can see in the following chart:


After the company announces its quarterly results tomorrow afternoon it will be hosting a conference call starting at 5:00 PM EDT to discuss the quarter. We will be liveblogging the entire call so you want to make sure to stop by tomorrow afternoon when you will be able to get up to the minute coverage.

There should be some interesting topics being discussed during the call. Over the course of the last quarter the company promoted its first CD on its new record label by Paul McCartney, and we may get some insight into how that venture is working out. The company also decided to cut artificial trans fat out of food and drinks in its stores in North America by years end, and we should get an update to how that plan is progressing.

But the 2 key stats that analysts are going to be watching for (other than earnings) will be the company's traffic and margins. In order for Starbucks to start to form a come back analysts are going to see some improvement in both areas over the past couple quarters.

So be sure to check back Monday afternoon, and we will keep you posted on all the news and reactions to Monday's earnings release.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.