Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Whole Foods Market (WFMI)

Among companies scheduled to report earnings next week are Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) and Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFMI). Here is a quick look at each of them.

HP has beat earnings expectations in every quarter since Q4 2004. When it reported third quarter results back in August, earnings were 71 cents per share, easily beating the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, as well as the actual 52 cents per share in the same period of 2006. For the fourth quarter, analysts expect 82 cents per share, or $2.88 for the full year.

HP’s 15.7% earnings per share growth forecast for the next year is better than the S&P 500, but nowhere near the computer hardware industry average of 76.2%. Yet, the analysts’ consensus recommendation has been to buy HP for at least six months, and has been trending slowly toward strong buy. The share price reached a five-year high of $53.48 earlier this month, before slipping to close Friday at $50.75.

For news about HP and the tech sector that could influence the earnings results, check out BloggingStocks’ Hewlett-Packard coverage.

Continue reading Earnings previews: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Whole Foods (WFMI)

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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 4:07 pm and is filed under Stocks Money News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.