Without Alcoa to lead off the Dow, the big banks basically kick off earnings season now.
They mostly report earnings during a relatively quiet week with just 2 dozen companies expected to report earnings.
But things pick up the second week of the season with about 200 companies reporting.
That doesn’t mean you should ignore these early reporting companies just because there aren’t many reporting. Far from it.
This first week we’ll get a couple of bellwether companies and one tech giant that investors should certainly be tuning into.
5 Charts to Kick Off Earnings Season
1. Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY - Free Report) has struggled with competition from both Amazon and Wayfair. Shares are near 5-year lows. Is the worst news already priced in?
2. Fastenal (FAST - Free Report) is a barometer for the manufacturing industry as its business parallels that industry. Shares broke out to new 5-year highs in 2018. Can they continue to rally?
3. Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK - Free Report) is a regional bank with one of the best earnings surprise charts out there. It hasn’t missed in 5 years. In 2017, there were some concerns about the growth in the national apartment portfolio, but have those fears eased?
4. First Republic (FRC - Free Report) is a wealth management bank specializing in San Francisco and Silicon Valley clients. It has missed 3 quarters in a row, which is a rare earnings miss streak for the bank. Will it turn it around this quarter?
5. Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) leads off the charge in the second week of earnings. It’s the first of the FANG stocks to report. It has a great track record of beating with just 2 misses in the last 5 years. But with shares soaring, is it too hot to handle now?
