Earnings previews: Merck (MRK) and AT&T (T)

Posted Oct 21st 2007 9:40AM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings Reports, AT and T (T), Merck and Co (MRK)

The earnings season crunch is underway once more, and among companies reporting next week are Merck & Co. (NASDAQ: MRK) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T).

In its second quarter report in July, Merck reported earnings per share of 82 cents, beating Wall Street's expectations by 13.9 percent, up from 73 cents in the same period the previous year. Merck had one-year earnings per share growth of 16.9 percent, which was better than the S&P 500 and the pharmaceutical industry average. For the third quarter, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect Merck to report earnings per share of 69 cents.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial recommend buying Merck: 3 rate it a strong buy, 10 a buy, and 8 a hold. The share price has been creeping back up toward its 52-week high of $55.14 last May, and closed Friday at $53.11.

For more on Vioxx and other pharma news that may affect Merck's results, check out BloggingStocks' Merck coverage.

AT&T has beat Wall Street expectations in the past four quarters. Its previous quarterly report beat analysts' earnings per share expectations by a three cents, coming in at 70 cents, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect earnings per share of 71 cents this quarter, up from 63 cents in the same period last year. The consensus recommendation from the analysts is to buy AT&T.

The share price has slid somewhat since surging to a 52-week high of $42.97 in September, and closed Friday at $41.37. A year ago, AT&T shares were trading in the low 30s.

For more on Vonage, iPhone, DirecTV, and other telco news that might influence AT&T's results, see BloggingStocks' AT&T coverage.

Merck reports earnings on Monday; AT&T reports on Tuesday.

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Tags: AT and T, DirecTV, earnings reports, iPhone, Merck, MRK, Vioxx, Vonage