Upcoming Earnings Reports To Watch: PAY, COST, ORCL

We have hit a lull as far as earnings reports go, but there are still several noteworthy companies set to announce their latest results in the upcoming week. Q3 earnings was strong across the board, so it will be interesting to see whether these reports will continue that trend and inspire strong trading for the remainder of the calendar year.

With that said, investors can always use the Zacks Earnings Calendar to plan out their schedules for earnings, dividend announcements, and other important financial releases. This handy tool is your perfect one-stop-shop to properly prepare for the market events that will have an impact on your own portfolio.

And today, we’ve made that task even easier for you. Using the Earnings Calendar, we looked ahead to next week and selected the biggest reports to watch. Make sure to keep an eye on these companies as they prepare to report during the week of December 11.

1. Verifone Systems, Inc. ( (NYSE:PAY) )

Verifone is scheduled to release its latest quarterly earnings report after the market closes on December 12. Verifone still holds a dominant position in the payments industry, but upstarts like Square (NYSE:SQ) and local competitors in emerging markets like China and India have seized key growth opportunities. Shares of PAY have gained just 2% so far this year.

Heading into its report date, Verifone is sporting a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Our current consensus estimates are calling for earnings of 43 cents per share and revenues of $472.18 million. These figures would represent year-over-year growth rates of +43.61% and +0.98%, respectively.

Profits should be supported by the company’s ongoing restructuring program, which was expected to save the company about $30 million this year. Investors will want to focus on the status of this plan, as well as any further restructuring initiatives the company might start.

2. Costco Wholesale Corporation ( (NASDAQ:COST) )

Costco is slated to report its most recent quarterly financial results after the closing bell on December 14. This big-box retailer has not been immune to its industry’s challenges, but shares have returned a respectable 17% so far this year, mostly thanks to a 15% surge over the past 12 weeks.

According to our latest consensus estimates, Costco is expected to report earnings of $1.35 per share and revenues of $31.29 billion, which would represent year-over-year growth rates of +14.96% and +11.34%, respectively. The company has surpassed earnings estimates in two consecutive quarters.

This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock is currently sporting a positive Earnings ESP of 1.64%, meaning that our proprietary method of identifying potential surprises is signaling that we could be in store for a beat.

3. Oracle Corporation ( (NYSE:ORCL) )

Oracle is scheduled to announce its latest quarterly earnings results after the market closes on December 14. Thanks to intense competition from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) , Oracle has struggled to keep pace recently and has underperformed its industry on a year-to-date basis. Nevertheless, the stock is up over 26% in 2017.

Heading into its report date, Oracle is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Our latest consensus estimates are calling for the company to report earnings of 68 cents per share and revenues of $9.55 billion. If these estimates hold up, they would represent year-over-year growth rates of +11.94% and +5.35%, respectively.

Oracle has met or surpassed earnings estimates in five consecutive quarters. Investors should also note that the company has been slowly gaining ground in the cloud computing world, so growth in its SaaS and PaaS platforms will be key.

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