The Mosaic Company (MOS) is slated to take its turn on the earnings stage after Monday's closing bell, with the agricultural chemical concern set to unveil its fiscal first-quarter results.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are anticipating a profit of 72 cents per share, substantially higher than the company's year-ago earnings of 23 cents per share. Mosaic has a dismal history in the earnings spotlight, having fallen short of Wall Street's consensus profit expectations in three of the past four quarters.

The Old Grey Lady is ailing. Wednesday morning, New York Times Co. (NYT) warned that its third-quarter revenue will decline by a wider-than-expected margin, due to slower growth in digital advertising. Speaking at an investor conference in New York, CEO Janet Robinson explained that digital ad revenue is expected to rise about 14%, compared to its earlier forecast for growth in the mid-to-high teens.

As a result, the company expects to swallow a third-quarter operating loss of 5 cents to 7 cents per share. Excluding items, earnings are expected to arrive at 3 cents to 5 cents per share, compared to Wall Street's consensus estimate of 4 cents per share.

AutoZone Inc. (AZO) is scheduled to release its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings before the market opens Tuesday, Sept. 21. The retailer has a solid track record in the earnings spotlight, having exceeded analysts' per-share profit predictions in each of the past four reporting periods -- and AZO has managed to surpass Wall Street's consensus estimate by an increasingly wide margin in each sequential quarter.

Ahead of the report, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are anticipating AutoZone to bank a profit of $5.42 per share, up from $4.45 per share in the year-ago period. Sales are expected to arrive at $2.39 billion.

After the closing bell, SunPower Corporation (SPWRA) will take the spotlight to reveal its fourth-quarter earnings. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting the solar concern to report net income of 49 cents per share, down from its year-ago profit of 70 cents per share. Sales for the period are expected to arrive at $491 million.

SunPower has a solid history in the earnings spotlight, having exceeded Wall Street's consensus expectations in three of the past four reporting periods. Judging by a recent uptick in call buying, some traders appear to be anticipating another upside surprise.

CME Group (CME) fell short of analysts' fourth-quarter profit expectations on Thursday, with the firm reporting earnings of $3.37 per share, compared to consensus expectations for a profit of $3.43 per share. This morning, two brokerage firms expressed their post-earnings skepticism by handing out price-target cuts.

Specifically, KBW lowered its forecast from $360 to $350, while Susquehanna chopped its price target from $370 to $345. Shares of CME finished Thursday at $269.29, so both brokerage firms are still anticipating some healthy gains from the stock during the next year. In fact, both targets exceed the equity's average 12-month price target of $342.35, as reported by Thomson Reuters, which implies expected upside of more than 27% from yesterday's close.

The worldwide insurance industry may be worth more than you think. Industry analysts believe that reporting isn't as consistent as it could be, and that improvements to insurance financial reporting would pump up those stock prices.

PricewaterhouseCoopers interviewed more than 40 investment professionals from the U.S., Asia and Europe, finding that dissatisfaction with insurance financial reporting was widespread. They'd like to see the International Accounting Standards Board and Financial Accounting Standards Board build a better mousetrap for the industry.

Before tomorrow's open, jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. (TIF) will be reporting its third quarter results. Analysts are expecting to see the company show earnings of 23 cents per share.

For the same period last year the company had earnings of 35 cents.

Despite largely positive corporate earnings reports, investor caution has set upon Wall Street. For the third straight day stocks are set to move into negative territory, with futures showing the three major U.S. indexes heading lower ahead of Thursday's opening bell.

Some blamed Wednesday's near 1% drops in the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 on a late-day sell-off driven by the latest Beige Book survey from the Federal Reserve that showed the economy is ever so slowly emerging from recession -- too slowly, it would seem, for investors.

With about a 50% run up since January, the stock market is poised for a dip. That is the conventional wisdom being touted by the analysts.

The idea is a good one, but what do you mean by a dip? This is where it experts disagree as usual. Let's take a sampling of some leading pundits:

• Sam Stovall, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, said: "But now (referring to continued high unemployment) that economic waters appear more choppy and third quarter earnings session is about to begin, are investors less inclined than they were a few weeks back to buy stocks on market dips?"

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) is preparing for its upcoming turn in the earnings spotlight. The firm is scheduled to unveil its fiscal third-quarter results before the market opens Thursday, Sept. 17.

Ahead of the event, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting Discover to swallow a loss of about 12 cents per share, down sharply from its year-ago profit of 37 cents per share. Sales for the period are expected to arrive at $743 million.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has some questions for Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ) regarding trial data for its leukemia drug, Clolar. Because Genzyme didn't follow the FDA's recommendations in conducting its main study of Clolar, the regulatory agency is reluctant to make a decision on the basis of the trial results.

In 2007, FDA staff advised Genzyme to conduct a randomized study in which participants receiving Clolar would be compared against a set of patients not receiving the drug. However, the drug company's primary tests did not include a control group; instead, the treatment was tested only on elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Analyst upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) to Market Perform from Underperform following the company's in-line quarter and extended buyback. The firm raised its target price on shares to $103 from $98.
• Merriman upgraded Cree (NASDAQ: CREE) to Buy from Neutral after transitioning coverage of the stock as it believes HB-LED chips are gaining momentum and that the company can top its recently raised guidance.
• Deutsche Bank upgraded Glatfelter (NYSE: GLT) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q2 results due to falling net debt levels and valuation. The firm raised its target on shares to $14 from $8.
• Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Baird.
• Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
• Unit Corp. (NYSE: UNT) was upgraded to Buy from Sell at Jesup & Lamont.

A report today in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) says that Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) is delving into the "lean" manufacturing techniques employed by the likes of Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM). Scott Heydon has been named the coffee company's new "vice president of lean thinking," and he's visiting Starbucks joints around the country to help eliminate wasteful movements by the chain's baristas.

Yes, that's right. Under Heydon's aegis, baristas are encouraged to economize their motions to maximize how quickly they can whip up one of the chain's signature drinks. "Motion and work are two different things," he explained to the Journal. "Thirty percent of the partners' time is motion; the walking, reaching, bending." If the process can be streamlined to include less motion, therefore, Starbucks could theoretically churn out more coffee confections in less time, and possibly with fewer workers.

In the wake of its second-quarter earnings report, SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) has garnered no fewer than four price-target increases and at least two upgrades. Running through the list, FBR upgraded the shares from "market perform" to "outperform," while Collins Stewart upped the equity from "sell" to "hold." FBR also hiked its price target from $22 to $40, while Citigroup upped its target from $15 to $18. Elsewhere, Credit Suisse raised the stock's price target from $20 to $32, and Canaccord Adams increased its 12-month estimate from $21 to $29.

In fact, Wedbush Morgan is the lone bearish holdout this morning, with the brokerage firm bucking the trend by downgrading SPWRA from "outperform" to "neutral."

Despite an increase in the number of bad loans, Hudson City Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) managed to exceed analysts' second-quarter earnings estimates. The New Jersey-based bank raked in a quarterly profit of $127.9 million, or 26 cents per share, up 16% from the year-ago period. The results topped Wall Street's consensus estimate for a profit of 24 cents per share.

However, HCBK's loan-loss provision surged during the quarter to $32.5 million, compared to $20 million during the first quarter. Net charge-offs rose to $9.6 million, more than doubling. Nonperforming loans escalated to $430.9 million (1.40% of total loans), up from $320.1 million (1.06% of total loans) at the end of the first quarter.