Earnings Preview Monday - Wednesday

As we do each earnings period here are the names I'm watching as earnings season begins in earnest Tuesday. Nothing we own in the first batch this coming week. Thursday is the monster day of the week with a ton of interesting companies reporting.

Monday
Genentech (DNA) - the new sexy place to hide out in this market, healthcare

Tuesday
CSX Corp (CSX) - last quarter during the preview I wrote "I contend people are mistaking the boom in rails due to international growth (hauling out our farm products, coal, fertilizers, and the like) for a "sign that the US economy is going to rebound any minute now". The rails benefit from the wealth effect being created overseas by governments and people - wanting our resources. But hopeful bulls, straining for any signs of strength to offset all the weakness, point to the strength in transports as a reason for glee." I'm stick to my words, as the evidence of my correct assessment slaps the pundits in the face by the week.

Eaton (ETN) - last quarter during the preview I wrote "this is a one of those quiet manufacturing type of companies - in the wake of GE I will be curious to see if we see similar issues in other names such as Honeywell (HON), Unitech Technologies (UTX) and the like. " The only difference now is Cramer has hyped this name as a "new tech". It remains a solid company.

Intel (INTC) - this one will swing the mood of the market one way or the other. As always, expect a lot of good international sales and a lot of currency gains that CNBC will fail to mention. Remember, many of these "multinational" companies are now showing 30-40-50-60% from currency gains alone. Quite sad. Again, I ask the "strong dollar" folks to be careful what you wish for because your precious P/E ratio on the S&P 500 will drop by a rock, and then where will you be? Praying for a weak dollar.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - boring but solid; always looking for price pass throughs on their consumer side (i.e. stuff that people actually have to pay but government reports say don't exist)

State Street (SST) - sort of a poor man's Blackrock (BLK)

U.S. Bancorp (USB) - it tried to hold up (one of Buffet's holdings) but anything within 500 miles of being called a financial is being systematically decimated.

Wednesday
AMR (AMR) and Delta Airlines (DAL) - two of Bluedog's favorite stocks; they are forming bottoms now and although he only travels by private jet he still loves to buy these falling knives. When they actually pop 40% in a week, he will be smiling somewhere and say "I told you so" even though they are down 70%? 80% from his last purchase? Unless you're a Fast Trader - these are toxic but at some point when oil weakens these will fly and we'll hear about the rebirth of airlines. By rebirth it means they will only be losing $750 on each flight as opposed to $2500. They make it up on volume...

eBay (EBAY) - you know the story, unless you live under a rock or work in Congress (which I believe is technically living under a rock). As I always say, the way Paypal rips me off, I wish they'd spin that baby off - best business model this side of Mastercard (MA) and Visa (V). Otherwise it's just a "value tech" stock (yawn)

Lufkin Industries (LUFK) - this is one of those quiet energy stocks that almost no one has ever heard of. They should know it - it's a great stock performance.

Polycom (PLCM) - I'm surprised this has not been even more hyped as a way to play high oil prices - they make teleconference equipment.

Wells Fargo (WFC) - good management, terrible state to be centered in, and simply the worst neighborhood in the stock market. It will be one of the survivors when we come out of this mess.

Yum Brands (YUM) - same story as always; we're killing it overseas (hey now look at those currency gains) and we're seeing weakness in America. Continue to watch these sort of names for food inflation, both in their inputs and what they can pass along to consumers. Also commentary on Europe.