There's not a whole lot on the economic calendar this coming week, as Thursday is Christmas day. But things are not entirely silent either.
As this is Christmas card season, it's somehow appropriate that American Greetings Corp. (NYSE: AM) is scheduled to report fiscal third-quarter results. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the nation's number two producer of greeting cards to report earnings of $0.52 per share, essentially the same as a year ago. Estimated revenue for the quarter is $474.5 million, down 2.3% from a year ago. American Greetings missed analysts' estimates in three of the past four quarters -- by 55.4% in the first quarter. After falling to a multiyear low of $7.85 per share in late November, the price closed Friday at $9.92. But the share price is 53.8% lower than a year ago.
Drugstore chain Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG), where one may find American Greetings cards, is expected to also report earnings the same as a year ago, or $0.46 per share, on revenue of $15.1 billion (+7.5%). Walgreen reported a modest increase in sales in October and again in November. The company only missed profit estimates in one of the past four quarters, and that by only a penny. The consensus recommendation remains to buy WAG, which has a long-term EPS growth rate forecast of 12.5%, better than the S&P 500 but less than that of rival CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS). Walgreen's share price has been creeping upward since reaching a multiyear low of $21.28 in October and closed Friday at $26.08. (For more on Walgreen, see Steven Mallas's earnings preview.)
Analysts are looking for leading office furniture maker Steelcase Inc. (NYSE: SCS) to report per-share earnings of $0.09 for its fiscal third quarter, less than a third of the year-ago profit. Steelcase already warned of a possible net loss for the quarter due to the weakened economy and restructuring costs. Shares are trading near the mutliyear low of $5.08, and are down 66.5% from a year ago.
A few tech companies are also expected to report quarterly results before the holiday. Palo Alto, Calif.-based TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX) is expected to report fourth-quarter profits 5.3% higher to $0.19 per share. Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the leading purveyor of the Linux operating system, is expected to report fiscal third-quarter earnings 5.3% lower, or $0.18 per share. Both TIBCO and Red Hat have beat estimates in recent quarters. FSI International Inc. (NASDAQ: FSII) and semiconductor maker Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE: MU) are expected to have widened their fiscal first-quarter losses to $0.15 per share and $0.43 per share, respectively. They've both posted deeper-than-expected losses in recent quarters.
Economic data scheduled to be released this week include:
- ICSC-UBS retail chain store sales (w/o Dec. 20, 2008): Tuesday, 7:45 AM
- U.S. gross domestic product (Q3 2008): Tuesday, 8:30 AM
- Redbook Retail Sales Index (w/o Dec. 20, 2008): Tuesday, 8:55 AM
- Existing home sales (Nov. 2008): Tuesday, 10:00 AM
- New housing sales (Nov. 2008): Tuesday, 10:00 AM
- University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (Dec. 2008): Tuesday, 10:00 AM
- Personal income (Nov. 2008): Wednesday, 8:30 AM
- Durable goods orders (Nov. 2008): Wednesday, 8:30 AM
- Initial jobless claims (w/o Dec. 19, 2008), Thursday, 8:30 AM











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-22-2008 @ 3:07AM
bill said...
all these people rambling on and none of them have a clue about what they r talking about. I'm not talking ab out joe the plaumber i'm talking about guys like bernanke paulson and big business and our government. none of them have a clue as to either the problem or the solution. they have just put teh average guy on the hook for another 700 billion dollars when they have no part in the problem.
12-22-2008 @ 3:13AM
wdmurphy said...
Time to get rid of the idiots in congress. fire them all none of them have a clue. also bernanke paulson and big business need to be ousted.