With Hurricane Sandy still battering parts of the
Mid-Atlantic and an estimated $10 billion to $20 billion in economic
damage
across the East Coast, many of us still aren’t out of the water yet.
But while
first responders and public officials are working around the clock to
protect
people in the affected areas, Wall Street is making arrangements to
reopen as
usual tomorrow morning. As Wednesday just so happens to be the last
trading day
of the month, it should be a busy day as institutional investors
scramble to rebalance
their portfolios for the month.
For those of you who can, now is a good time to
prepare for
tomorrow’s trading action, so I want to take a moment to run down the
big
earnings and economic events to look for tomorrow and beyond.
On Halloween, we’ll receive earnings data from
several big
household names:
- Spirit
Airlines Inc. (SAVE) reports first thing in the morning.
While SAVE is headed towards 19.3% sales growth, analysts also forecast
a 10.3%
dip in earnings. SAVE
is a hold. - The
Clorox Co. (CLX) also announces before market open. As
I mentioned in a recent Stock of the Day feature, I’m not convinced
that
this earnings announcement will blow estimates out of the water. CLX
is a cautious buy. - Credit card giant Visa
Inc. (V) reports after the closing bell. Analysts expect 12.2%
sales growth and 18.1% earnings growth. V
is also a cautious buy. - Allstate
Corp. (ALL) wraps things up after close with its third-quarter
earnings
announcement. While Allstate is headed towards single-digit sales
growth, its
bottom line is expected to surge 606% (compared with the -99% industry
average). ALL
is a strong buy.
Along with the weekly jobless claims, the
September
construction spending and the October consumer confidence reports,
Thursday
will bring quarterly results from these consumer and retail companies:
- Body
Central Corp. (BODY) reports earnings before Thursday’s open.
BODY
is
headed towards just 3% sales growth and an 84% plunge in profits. BODY
is a sell. - Kellogg
Co. (K) announces earnings before open. Kellogg is due to report
double-digit sales growth but flat earnings. K
is a hold. - Bebe
Stores Inc. (BEBE) is up to announce earnings sometime during
the
day. This
should be a particularly weak report–analysts forecast a 9% drop in
sales and a
200% plunge in profits. BEBE
is a strong sell. - High end grocer Harris
Teeter Supermarkets Inc. (HTSI) finishes out the day. This
company’s sales are expected to growth 7% and its earnings by
17%–beneath the
20% industry average. HTSI
is a sell.
Then Friday will be relatively quiet on the
earnings front,
but it’s the day that the Labor Department releases the unemployment
report for
October. I consider this to be the most important report for the week.
This Labor Department announcement consists of two
separate
reports. First, about 60,000 households are surveyed to determine the
unemployment rate. Currently, economists
expect a 7.9% unemployment rate, slightly higher than September’s 7.8%
rate.
Then, approximately 375,000 businesses are
surveyed to
determine the number of nonfarm payrolls, average workweek and average
hourly
earnings figure. As it stands, the consensus calls for 135,000 nonfarm
payrolls
(over 114,000 last month), a 0.2% increase in hourly earnings, and for
the
average workweek to remain unchanged at 34.5 hours.
In the meantime, I’ll check in first thing
tomorrow with a
report on trading activity and anything else you may need to act on
once the
stock market reopens.
Until then,
Louis Navellier