U.S. stock futures are higher this morning, following President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech. Investors are awaiting earnings reports and a monetary policy announcement by the Federal Reserve. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 35 points to 11,957.00 and S&P 500 futures rose 5.60 points to 1,293.30. Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 9 points at 2,310.25.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.33 points or less than 0.1% yesterday.

Data on December new-home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. The latest statement from the Fed is due at 2:15 p.m. ET.

Coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) had a strong quarter. Net profit jumped 86% to $278.9 million from $150 million a year earlier, according to its earnings release. For the year to October, net profit more than doubled to $945.6 million from $390.6 million.

Revenue for the period was $2.84 billion, up 17% from $2.42 billion. Starbucks boss Howard Schultz said, "I am delighted with the record fourth quarter and full year results we announced today. ... These results are particularly gratifying in light of the formidable economic challenges that our customers and we continue to confront in virtually every country and every market in which we operate."

When Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) presents its fiscal first quarter 2007 earnings on January 31, the company might want to roll out a new numbered cup, with the quote, "Can't Starbucks just serve its holiday beverages year-round?" Its eggnog lattes and maple macchiatos have customers slurping each winter, and investors licking their lips in anticipation of seasonally spicy earnings.

According to First Call, analysts expect the coffee retailer to earn 26 cents a share, a big bump of 36% over the year-ago quarter. But for analysts who are hoping for a whopping growth rate? They don't sound so hopeful. William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia is worried about the holiday merchandise -- the red ceramic mugs, the CDs, the bears. "Starbucks' pre-holiday markdowns on seasonal merchandise were earlier and more aggressive this year and post-holiday inventory levels were higher leading to subsequently deeper markdowns," she wrote, and it's certainly true that the Starbucks outlet on my corner was packed with holiday goodies in the weeks after Christmas (we picked up a set of coffee-cup ornaments for half price).

With a wealth of small changes to its business -- including a bigger focus on low-margin, but not labor-intensive items like books, music and those pretty red-themed mug; a bigger push into breakfast with eggy biscuity sandwiches; and a focus on spending more for more socially reponsible coffee -- the variables are many. And investors are skeptical; in the three months since the last earnings release, the stock is down about 13%. Are you really this skeptical?

Also check out some other earnings reports that we're following, and let us know your thoughts on earnings expectations.

While Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) is reporting 22% revenue growth in June and meeting its own target of same-store sales gains between 3 percent and 7 percent, share prices dipped $1.27 (about 3.3%) after-hours tonight. The news in the latest release that spooked investors: sales at retail outlets open at least 13 months rose only 6% in June -- a number that was unfortunately on the low side of the 6% - 8% Wall Street estimate.

Analyst Dan Geiman of McAdams Wright Ragen was still rating SBUX a buy as of July 3rd. Starbucks CEO and President Jim Donald seems content enough. "In June, we continued to deliver solid revenue and comparable store sales growth in line with our growth targets," he was quoted saying in the press release.