By Ben Fox Rubin
Third-quarter earnings season continues next week with a bevy of
tech companies, as well as airlines, industrials and others.
Also, housing and gross domestic product data are expected,
along with three initial public offerings.
Here Come the Tech Stocks
On the heels of Google Inc.'s (GOOG) premature earnings release
this week, a wave of major tech stocks are expected to follow,
though most likely not in the same fashion.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) is slated to report after the market close on
Monday. Investors are keenly watching for more details of the
struggling web portal's turnaround strategy since former Google
executive Marissa Mayer became its chief executive. The company,
which has seen its CEO slot become something of a revolving door in
recent years, has enjoyed renewed investor interest and has shaken
up its executive ranks since Ms. Mayer took over, but a long-term
fix for the Internet company remains uncertain. Earnings are
expected to improve slightly.
Facebook Inc. (FB), scheduled to report after the close Tuesday,
has repeatedly stumbled since going public in May, though its
battered stock appears to have stabilized. Investors will be
looking for any sign whether the company is making progress in
making money through mobile devices and if the company can maintain
the same pace of revenue growth its had in the past.
The two tech giants will be joined be Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN),
Zynga Inc. (ZNGA), Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and IAC/InterActiveCorp.
(IACI), among others.
Airlines, Industrials and More
Amid the busy week for earnings, groups of airlines, industrials
and consumer-goods companies plan to report.
Starting with airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), US Airways
Group Inc. (LCC), Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) and JetBlue Airways
Corp. (JBLU) will report.
Industrial conglomerate United Technologies Corp. (UTX), which
recently completed its $16.5 billion deal for aircraft-component
maker Goodrich Corp., should report Tuesday, along with diversified
manufacturer 3M Co. (MMM). Aircraft maker Boeing Co. (BA) plans to
report Wednesday.
Other companies slated to report are drugmaker Bristol-Myers
Squibb Co. (BMY), consumer-goods heavyweight Procter & Gamble
Co. (PG), telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. (T) and shipping
company United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS).
ResCap Asset Auction Expected, A123 Bidding War
In bankruptcy proceedings, Residential Capital LLC, Ally
Financial Inc.'s money-losing mortgage subsidiary, will put its
loan-portfolio and mortgage-servicing assets on the block for a
bankruptcy court-supervised auction in the upcoming week.
The mortgage servicer has leading bids lined up from Warren
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB) and Nationstar
Mortgage Holdings Inc. (NSM) for the assets, which will be sold
separately.
Also, Chinese auto-parts maker Wanxiang Group Corp. plans to
submit its bid for A123 Systems Inc. to the government next week.
A123, a Massachusetts-based electric car battery maker, filed for
bankruptcy protection this week and plans to sell its auto-business
assets to American rival Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI). But a bidding
war between Johnson and Wanxiang for the company has erupted in
bankruptcy court.
Housing Data, Third-Quarter GDP
A mishmash of data is scheduled to be reported on a week that
will include a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve policy
committee. Key reports will include the initial look at
third-quarter growth and more data on housing.
The first reading of real gross domestic product will be
reported Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires think
economic growth picked up, but not by much. The median forecast
expects real GDP grew an annual rate of 1.8% last quarter, up from
1.3% in the second quarter.
Sales of new homes will be reported Wednesday. Economists expect
sales rose 3.5% in September to an annual rate of 386,000, from
373,000 in August. Homebuilders have reported increased buyer
traffic through model homes.
Three IPOs Expected for Next Week
WhiteWave Foods Co., a spin-off of dairy distributor Dean Foods
Co. (DF), expects to launch its initial public offering next week.
The fast-growing WhiteWave business sells Horizon Organic dairy
products and Silk soy milk. Dean is expected to own at least 80% of
the new company's stock, but wanted to turn it into its own
publicly traded company in hopes of unlocking its full value.
Two other IPOs expected to start trading next week are gas
station operator Lehigh Gas Partners LP and pipeline and storage
company MPLX LP.
Conferences
Conferences next week include Jefferson Financial Inc. New
Orleans Investment Conference from Wednesday to Saturday in New
Orleans, La.; SNL Financial LC Fundamentals of Derivatives for
Commercial Banks Conference from Wednesday to Thursday in New York;
and O'Reilly Strata Conference and Hadoop World from Tuesday to
Thursday in New York.
--Patrick Fitzgerald and Kathleen Madigan contributed to this
story.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@dowjones.com
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