Retail Giants Will Post Earnings This Week

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This week will see retail giants such as Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and Target (NYSE:TGT) post earnings as well as home-improvement giants Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD).

Also expect to hear earnings reported from JC Penney (NYSE:JCP), Saks Inc. (NYSE:SKS) and clothing retailer Gap (NYSE:GPS). Tech giant Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) will report earnings also this week.

Analysts are expecting Wal-Mart Stores to report earnings growth of 8.3%. Wal Mart’s earnings release is always a good insight into the minds of the consumer, inflation, and consumer product demand. As the largest company in the world, an increase of 8.3% in earnings would be seen as good.

Target will report its third quarter earnings on Wednesday, November 16, 2011.
Analysts are expecting Target to be “on target” with its earnings, and either match or beat expectations. At least 55% of analysts rate Target stock as a great buy.

Lowe’s is expected to post earnings on Monday before the bell. Home Depot is set to release its earnings statement on Tuesday.

Other items on tap this week will be the October consumer price index statement which will be released on Wednesday. The CPI gauges the prices of commonly used consumer goods and services.

On Wednesday, a couple of high profile initial public offerings will include Angie’s List and auto parts maker Delphi. On Thursday, new housing starts data will be released.

The week will also see the usual see-saw happenings in Europe. Hopefully the week will bring more stability as Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is out of the way along with former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.

Looming ahead in the next few weeks will be deficit-reduction measures by the so-called Congressional “super committee” or the lack thereof…only time will tell.