Alcoa Inc. (AA), a leading producer of alumina and aluminum, is scheduled to discuss its second-quarter 2010 financial results Monday, July 12, in a conference call beginning at 5:00 PM (ET) hosted by CEO Klaus Kleinfeld and CFO Chuck McLane. You can catch a live webcast at Alcoa's website.

During the three months that ended in June, Alcoa appointed a new CEO, announced an acquisition and declared a quarterly dividend. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect this New York-based company to report earnings of $0.12 per share, compared to year-ago loss of $0.26 per share. Its revenue is expected to have risen 18.9% from a year ago to $5 billion.

Shares of Mosaic Company (MOS) rallied to a new 52-week high today, topping out at $63.83 in intraday action. The stock seems to be enjoying a halo lift after sector peer Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (POT) was upgraded, but the spotlight will turn to Mosaic after today's closing bell, when the company is slated to unveil its fiscal second-quarter earnings.

Mosaic's performance on the earnings front has been mixed, with the fertilizer firm falling short of analysts' consensus expectations during three of the past four reporting periods. Ahead of tonight's release, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting a second-quarter profit of 35 cents per share, on average, down from Mosaic's year-ago profit of $1.12 per share. Sales are expected to ring in at $1.68 billion.

OmniVision Technologies (OVTI) shuffled into the earnings spotlight Monday night, and the stock is getting punished as a result. While the company managed to exceed analysts' second-quarter earnings expectations, traders seem utterly dismayed by OmniVision's soft revenue guidance for the current quarter.

Specifically, the maker of semiconductor image sensors banked a second-quarter profit of $8.1 million, or 16 cents per share, reversing its year-ago loss of $5.3 million, or 10 cents per share. Excluding items, earnings arrived at 27 cents per share, compared to Wall Street's consensus forecast for a profit of 16 cents per share. Revenue for the second quarter jumped 12% to $183.3 million, easily outpacing analysts' expectations for $163.9 million.

Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) wallowed in the red Thursday morning, after the drugstore chain disappointed Wall Street with its second-quarter earnings and full-year guidance.

Rite Aid said its quarterly loss narrowed to $116 million, or 14 cents per share, while revenue dwindled 2.7% to $6.3 billion. Same-store sales dipped 1.1%, while gross margin contracted from 27.4% to 26.7%.

CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) rallied to a new 52-week high Tuesday after topping analysts' second-quarter earnings expectations. The used-car retailer reported a quarterly profit of $103 million, or 46 cents per share, while net sales jumped 13% to $2.1 billion. By contrast, analysts were expecting net income of just 18 cents per share on $1.77 billion in revenue.

"The government's CARS, or 'cash for clunkers,' program resulted in a spike in traffic in late July and August," explained CEO Tom Folliard. Same-store used-unit sales for the quarter climbed 8%, bouncing back from a 17% drop in the first quarter.

Repros Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RPRX) easily takes the prize for most dismal earnings report of the day. Not only did the drug firm report a wider-than-forecast second-quarter loss, it also warned that bankruptcy is a real possibility unless the company can secure significant additional capital.

Specifically, Repros confessed to a second-quarter net loss of $8.9 million, or 59 cents per share, compared to Wall Street's consensus estimate for a loss of 46 cents per share. The company chalked up its poor results to a 16% annualized increase in clinical development activities for Proellex -- which has been placed on clinical hold by the FDA -- as well as a 60% year-over-year jump in general and administration expenses.

Late Wednesday, the EnerDel unit of Ener1 Inc. (NASDAQ: HEV) scored a grant from the Obama administration to make battery parts. The company's $118.5-million handout was part of a $2.4-billion grant package doled out to automakers and related firms by the federal government in order to fund the domestic development of next-generation car batteries.

Indiana-based Ener1 says that the Obama grant, along with $480 million in Department of Energy loans it's applied for, should translate to rapid growth in its staff. The company has 150 employees currently, but said that number could surge to 3,000 workers as soon as 2015.

This morning, Level 3 Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) confessed to a second-quarter loss of $134 million, or 8 cents per share, roughly tripling its year-ago loss of $42 million, or 3 cents per share. Revenue for the period slipped 12% to $942 million. The results were mixed, as far as analysts' expectations were concerned; Wall Street was looking for a slightly wider quarterly loss of 9 cents per share on more robust revenue of $959.4 million.

"The economy continued to be challenging in the second quarter for wireline service providers," said James Crowe, the company's CEO. "As expected, sequential revenue pressure continued in the second quarter, although at a significantly moderated rate. We did see improvements in sales and churn, however, they were not as much as we expected."

Shares of TASER International (NASDAQ: TASR) are trading lower today as investors react to the company's second-quarter earnings report. The stun-gun issue reported a narrowed quarterly loss of $723,403, or a penny per share, compared to its year-ago loss of 3 cents per share.

Revenue for the period increased 3.5% to $21.8 million, though gross margin fell to 62.9% from 64.5%. Research and development expenses jumped 45% during the quarter as TASER poured more cash into new products, including its recently launched X3 device.

El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP) reported this morning that Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has agreed to invest $700 million in EP's Ruby Pipeline project, which will transport natural gas from the Rocky Mountain region to the Western United States. Under the terms of the deal, GIP will receive a 50% equity interest in three major traunches of the project.

News of the lucrative investment has propelled EP to a gain of 1.7%, despite a downside bias in the broader equities market. The shares are positioned above support at their 10-week and 20-week moving averages, but potential resistance lies overhead in the $11 region. This area previously capped the stock's rally attempt in mid-June.

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."

As Melly Alazraki noted earlier today, McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is one of many heavy hitters to take the earnings stage today. Unfortunately, the fast-food firm didn't exactly impress with its latest quarterly figures; the company struggled under the weight of weak sales during the month of June, and saw its second-quarter profits slide 8% year-over-year as a result.

Specifically, the Big Mac parent raked in net income of $1.09 billion, or 98 cents per share, compared to its year-ago results of $1.19 billion, or $1.04 per share. Excluding a one-cent gain, earnings weighed in at 97 cents per share. McDonald's reported that strength in the U.S. dollar negatively impacted its quarterly results by about 9 cents per share.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) could be in for a rough session following the release of its second-quarter results. Last night, AMD confessed to a quarterly loss of $335 million, or 49 cents per share; excluding items, the loss widened to 62 cents per share. While this is certainly an improvement from AMD's year-ago loss of $1.16 per share, the results were notably worse than analysts expected -- consensus estimates called for a loss of just 53 cents per share.

Meanwhile, revenue for the period contracted 13% on a year-over-year basis, dwindling to $1.18 billion. This figure actually managed to exceed consensus estimates, which predicted quarterly sales of $1.13 billion. Unfortunately, margins for the quarter fell sharply from first-quarter levels, dropping from 43% to 37%.

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.

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: CY) joined the parade of companies reporting their latest quarterly results today. The firm swallowed a second-quarter loss of $45.3 million, or 32 cents per share. Excluding items, CY recorded a net loss of just 3 cents per share, besting analysts' consensus expectations for a loss of 9 cents per share. Revenue also came in better than expected, arriving at $155.8 million, compared to Wall Street's forecast of $152.0 million.

In the wake of this upside surprise, CY surged to a new multi-decade high of $9.83 early in today's session. It seems that bearish bettors were caught off-guard by the stronger-than-expected results; during the 10 days leading up to the report, option traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) bought to open 6.75 times more puts than calls on CY. Speculative investors on the ISE have purchased the stock's puts over calls at faster pace just 3% of the time.