Earnings Week: Pre-Black Friday Judgment Week for Retailers

Markets
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Black Friday is next week, and that should inject the retail sector with some much-needed life. We’ll have a better gauge of what to expect after the next few days, however.

Many of the largest retailers in the U.S. report third-quarter earnings this week. Keep an eye on the fourth-quarter and year-end guidance sections of those reports. Those could clue us in as to whether we’re in for another record-breaking beginning to the holiday shopping season – or if the sluggish economy and the looming fiscal cliff will weigh heavily on sales.

Here is a list of some of the more high-profile companies set to report earnings this week – retailers and otherwise. Thursday is the big day on this week’s earnings calendar, with the top two retailers in America – Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT) – set to report:

Tuesday

  • Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO)
  • Home Depot (NYSE: HD)

Wednesday

  • Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF)
  • Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD)
  • Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS)
  • Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM)

Thursday

  • Dell (NASDAQ: DELL)
  • Gap (NYSE: GPS)
  • Target
  • Wal-Mart

Friday

  • J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM)
  • Foot Locker (NYSE: FL)

For further clues about how to play Black Friday this year, check out my colleague Jason Cimpl’s article from this morning, “Three Stocks to Buy before Black Friday.”

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