H.J. Heinz Co. (HNZ), one of the world's largest food companies, is scheduled to discuss its fiscal second-quarter 2010 financial results in a conference call Tuesday, November 24, at 8:30 AM ET, hosted by CEO William R. Johnson. You can see the accompanying slides on the company's website.

During the three months that ended in October, Heinz partnered with the World Food Program and also declared a quarterly dividend. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the Pittsburgh-based company to report that earnings for the period fell 19.5% from a year ago to $0.70 per share. But revenue for the quarter is expected to total $2.6 billion, about the same as last year.

Campbell Soup Co. (CPB), which recently raised its quarterly dividend by 10%, is scheduled to discuss its fiscal first-quarter 2010 financial results in a conference call Monday, November 23, at 10:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

During the three months that ended in October, Campbell revamped its Chunky line of soups, was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, and debuted its first Times Square billboard. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the world's biggest soup maker to report that earnings for that period rose 4.9% from a year ago to $0.81 per share. And revenue for the quarter is expected to be 1.5% higher to $2.3 billion.

Much of the focus this week will no doubt be on the FOMC meeting on interest rates and the subsequent decision, as well as on the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, were the agenda will include bonuses for bank executives among other things.

Things will be fairly quiet again on the earnings front as the next earnings season has yet to ramp up. However, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters do have high hopes for a handful of companies that will release results this week.

Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB), whose brands also include Pace, Pepperidge Farm, Prego, and V8, is scheduled to discuss its fiscal fourth-quarter 2009 results Friday in a conference call at 10:00 AM ET. You can catch the webcast of the call at the company's website.

For the three months that ended in July, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the Camden, N.J.-based company to report that its earnings that are about the same a year ago, $0.26 per share. For the full year, the forecast is for a profit of $2.17 per share, up 3.7% from a year ago.

Here are some highlights from last week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) strong Q2 results beat expectations due to rising same-store sales.
• Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) Q3 earnings topped low expectations and revenue declined.
• Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) posted better-than-expected Q3 results but shares fell on weaker margins.
• Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) CEO said its new advertising efforts will boost sales over the long run.
• Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) had a better-than-expected Q2 profit but same-store sales fell.
• BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. (NYSE: BJ) reported solid Q2 numbers and raised its full-year guidance.

H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE: HNZ), a food company that shares space at the supermarket with products from Kraft Foods, Inc. (NYSE: KFT), ConAgra (NYSE: CAG), and Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), issued first-quarter data on Thursday. Even though the effect of currency translations continues to put a cloud over the top-line performance, management did end up beating earnings expectations.

Net sales came in flat, and net income was 67 cents per share. Analysts were expecting 5 cents less, according to Earnings.com. Shareholders should be happy about that. When I covered Heinz's last quarter, I noted that expectations were essentially beat by a penny.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, lifting shares.
• AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) posted a better-than-expected Q3 profit said it will continue to buy back shares.
• Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) reported lower Q2 earnings and also announced 1,100 layoffs.
• Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) higher Q1 earnings topped estimates even though same-store sales fell.
• BioMed Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: BMR) earnings prospects after the recent capital raise led to a downgrade.

Heinz (NYSE: HNZ), whose supermarket colleagues include Kraft (NYSE: KFT) and Kellogg (NYSE: K), reported Q4 numbers earlier today. Can't say they were the stuff of a growth investor's dreams. Earnings per share came in at $0.55 versus $0.61 in Q4 of last year. The top line had trouble because of currency effects. Sales dropped over 5%. However, organic revenues increased over 5%. Unfortunately, volume decreased 2%. As can be seen, things aren't totally awesome at Heinz.

The company came in one penny ahead of expectations according to my earnings preview. Other sources say Heinz essentially met expectations. No matter what, management has its work cut it out for it in terms of offsetting currency woes and getting those volume stats on the rise.

Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) is set to report Q4 data before the opening bell on Thursday, May 28. How will the company do? And by that I mean, will it beat the earnings expectation?

In general, that's what the market looks for. Sometimes the market cares more about beating the analyst game than it does about profit growth. Might sound strange, but that's what you see from time to time. Of course, even when a company beats, it may not make much of a difference when it comes to price action (I'll get to that in the last paragraph).

I think Heinz will indeed beat on the bottom line. I'm going by recent history here. According to Earnings.com, Heinz is expected to report 54 cents per share tomorrow. The company went beyond the call in the first three quarters of its fiscal year. Why miss on the last quarter of the year? I think the trend is in on this one.

After the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, the earnings spotlight turns to Canadian banks: Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) are all scheduled to report their second-quarter results.

While banks north of the border of generally have held up better than their U.S. counterparts, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the four listed above to report that earnings declined between 20% and 30% since the same period of last year. All four have P/E ratios around 10, and they are paying dividends. Shares of all four have surged 50% to 83% in the past three months, but are still 26% to 38% lower than a year ago.

Supermarket staple ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG) reported earnings for the third quarter on Thursday. Wall Street was bullish on the company since the bottom-line performance beat the expectations of analysts. Shares of the stock closed up over 9% at the end of yesterday's trading session.

Sales increased slightly over 6% and net income came in at 40 cents per diluted share on an adjusted basis. That was good for an 18% growth rate on the bottom line. Market analysts were only counting on 36 cents per share. So, you can see why the market was excited.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Bidz.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDZ) Q4 earnings release included notice about an SEC investigation.
• Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) saw net income drop by almost 50%, falling short of estimates.
• Ducommun Inc. (NYSE: DCO) received an analyst's downgrade after its Q4 earnings release.
• Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) said Q4 earnings fell due to weakness at Gap and Old Navy stores.
• General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) worse-than-expected results prompted speculation about its survival.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the parade of earnings declines to continue into the final week of February, with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN), Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M), DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (NYSE: DWA), Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE: RY), Del Monte Foods Co. (NASDAQ: DLM), Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB), RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH), and H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) all expected to post lower earnings for the most recent quarter. Office Depot Inc. (NYSE: ODP), Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS), and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) are expect to have swung to a loss.

HJ Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) recently learned inadvertently how strong its brand was with consumers.

The company had announced that it was going to change the label on its flagship brand of ketchup. It seemed entirely reasonable and appropriate to drop the pickle from the label and replace it with a tomato.

Little did the company expect to encounter outrage from consumers, who launched a "Save the Pickle" campaign, complete with a blog, and an organized letter and e-mail avalanche.