Online marketing specialist ValueClick (VCLK) is scheduled to unveil its fourth-quarter earnings after Tuesday's closing bell. Ahead of the announcement, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are anticipating a profit of 23 cents per share, on average, which would represent an improvement over ValueClick's year-ago earnings of 18 cents per share.

ValueClick has a strong history in the earnings spotlight, having surpassed analysts' bottom-line expectations in each of the past four quarters. However, a quick scan of the stock's sentiment backdrop reveals a nearly palpable pessimism among both traders and analysts.

Thursday morning, GPS specialist Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) said it lost a patent dispute with Japanese firm Pioneer Corp. The District Court of Dusseldorf in Germany found that two patents owned by Pioneer were infringed by a certain functionality in Garmin's software.

However, Garmin says it has already worked out "minor software revisions that eliminate the narrow functionality at issue in the litigation." As a result, the company doesn't expect any significant impact on its ability to import and sell its navigational products.

Lennar Corp. (LEN) just can't seem to win much respect on Wall Street. Despite well-known fundamental issues within the housing sector, LEN has tallied a year-to-date advance of roughly 35% -- easily topping the 11.4% gain collected by the S&P 500 Index (SPX).

Wall Street seems less than impressed by this technical outperformance, though. Earlier today, S&P Equity downgraded the stock to hold from strong buy, joining six other analysts who maintain a tepid rating on the shares.

Lululemon Athletica (LULU) will take its turn in the earnings confessional bright and early tomorrow morning, Dec. 9. Analysts are expecting the athletic apparel firm to report a third-quarter profit of 25 cents per share, up from 20 cents per share in the year-ago period. LULU has an impressive track record in the earnings spotlight, having exceeded Wall Street's consensus profit expectations in each of the past four quarters.

The stock has also established itself as a technical outperformer, with LULU rising 82.5% so far in 2010. This impressive ascent has been underlined by reliable support at the stock's 10-week, 20-week, and 50-week moving averages, which have guided LULU higher since July 2009.

Television titan TiVo (TIVO) will step into the earnings spotlight after tonight's closing bell, with Wall Street looking for a third-quarter loss of 17 cents per share -- wider than TiVo's year-ago deficit of 6 cents per share. The firm has been on a hot streak with its quarterly reports, having exceeded analysts' consensus earnings expectations in each of the last three reporting periods.

However, the equity's technical performance isn't quite so impressive. The shares took a dive earlier this month after TiVo's patent dispute with EchoStar (SATS) and Dish Network (DISH) took an ugly turn in the courtroom, and the stock has yet to recover.

Mela Sciences (MELA) gapped higher right out of the gate Monday, with the shares surging roughly 12% on Monday morning. Over the weekend, Barron's noted that the stock is "worth a close look ahead of a regulatory vote on Nov. 18," and traders are apparently taking the suggestion to heart.

The financial publication described its opinion on the shares as "cautiously optimistic," explaining that analysts believe MELA could double if its MelaFind device receives the OK from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel this Thursday. However, warned Barron's, a regulatory thumbs-down "could cut the shares in half."

Wendy's/Arby's Group (WEN) was wallowing in red ink Friday morning, after the fast-food firm confessed to a third-quarter loss and warned that its full-year earnings would arrive at the low end of its previously forecast range. Even more troubling, the restaurateur said it's not yet prepared to offer financial guidance for 2011.

For the recently concluded quarter, Wendy's swallowed a net loss of $900,000 -- which translates to a negligible per-share deficit -- down from its year-ago profit of $14.69 million, or 3 cents per share. Revenue for the period slipped 4.7% to $861.2 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were anticipating a profit of 4 cents per share on $882.6 million in revenue.

Now that Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives, analysts at JPMorgan are taking a look at the election's potential impact on the stock market. In a research note this morning, JPMorgan cited alternative energy issue First Solar (FSLR) as one equity that could be damaged by the GOP's Congressional gains.

"Most of the downside is accounted for by the possibility of fiscally conservative measures, such as budget cuts and the reduction/elimination of certain subsidies," wrote JPMorgan in a note to clients.

Century Aluminum (CENX) took a dive right out of the gate Wednesday morning, as traders panned the commodity concern's third-quarter results. Tuesday night, CENX confessed to a quarterly loss of $16.8 million, or 18 cents per share, down substantially from its year-ago profit of $40.1 million, or 45 cents per share. Sales for the quarter climbed to $279.2 million, but CENX's bottom line was dented by a $12.2 million mark-to-market loss on forward contracts.

The aluminum issue managed to exceed analysts' consensus revenue forecast of $269.5 million, but the quarterly loss fell well short of Wall Street's prediction for a net profit of 8 cents per share.

PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) is slated to take its turn on the earnings stage tomorrow morning, with Wall Street expecting the sultan of snack foods to report a third-quarter profit of $1.22 per share -- up from $1.08 per share in the year-ago period. PEP has a solid history on the earnings front, having exceeded analysts' consensus profit expectations in three of the past four quarters.

However, speculative investors seem skittish ahead of the event. During the past 10 days, options traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have bought to open 1.59 puts for every call on PEP. This ratio ranks higher than 84% of other such readings taken during the previous year, marking a near-peak of pessimistically slanted option volume on the exchange.

Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) is scheduled to take the earnings stage after Wednesday's closing bell, with Wall Street expecting the homebuilder to report a fiscal third-quarter loss of 52 cents per share. This would mark a notable improvement over Hovnanian's year-ago loss of $2.16 per share, but there's no guarantee the company can match analysts' expectations. During the past four quarters, Hovnanian has fallen short of consensus earnings estimates on two occasions.

Accordingly, speculators have been loading up on bearish bets as Hovnanian's quarterly report approaches. The International Securities Exchange (ISE) reports that traders have bought to open 4.64 puts for every call on HOV during the past 10 days, revealing a strong bias toward pessimistically oriented options.

Bearish sentiment is nearly palpable as Toll Brothers (TOL) prepares to unveil its fiscal third-quarter results. Ahead of the open on Wednesday, Toll Brothers is expected to report a quarterly loss of 14 cents per share -- significantly improved from the homebuilder's year-ago deficit of $2.93 per share.

The company has a dismal track record in the earnings spotlight though, having fallen short of Wall Street's consensus expectations in three of the past four reporting periods. And, judging by recent increases in short interest and buy-to-open put volume, traders are bracing for another disappointing report from Toll Brothers.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) attracted a heavy dose of put volume on Friday, with approximately 16,000 contracts crossing the tape. This flurry of activity represented about 19 times the stock's expected daily put volume.

Data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE) confirms this bearish bias, with CHRW racking up a single-day put/call volume ratio of 11.62 on the exchange. In other words, traders on the ISE bought to open nearly a dozen puts for every call on Friday.

Option volume was unusually heavy on Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) on Wednesday, with roughly 26,000 calls and 29,000 puts crossing the tape. This flurry of activity represented about 20 times the equity's predicted daily volume. After taking a closer look at the day's major trades, it looks as though one speculator opted to initiate a long strangle on the stock.

Specifically, the trader bought to open about 10,000 August 17 calls, and simultaneously bought an equivalent number of August 14 puts. With WY trading at $15.50 at the time of these transactions, both options were out of the money by exactly 1.5 points.

Hartford Financial Services (HIG) attracted unusually heavy put volume on Wednesday, with 1.7 times the expected number of puts crossing the tape. About 10,000 put options were traded on the insurance issue during the course of yesterday's session, compared to fewer than 8,000 calls that changed hands.

Data from the International Securities Exchange (ISE) points to a strongly bearish bias. On Wednesday, options traders on the ISE bought to open 2,554 puts on HIG, while only 339 calls were purchased. The equity's single-day ISE put/call volume ratio of 7.53 underscores a distinct preference for pessimistically oriented options.