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Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) will report earnings before markets open on Wednesday, May 22nd. Staples, Inc. retails office supplies, furniture, and technology. The Company’s customers include consumers and businesses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Staples serves its customers through office superstores, mail order catalogs, the Internet, and a contract business. Here is your Cheat Sheet to Staples Earnings: Earnings Expectations: Analysts expect earnings of $0.27 per share on revenues of $5.93 billion. Analyst Trends: Analysts have a more negative outlook for the company’s next-quarter performance. Over the past three months, the average estimate for next quarter’s earnings has fallen from a profit of $0.2 to a profit $0.18. For the current year, the average estimate is a profit of $1.33, which is worse than the estimate ninety days ago. Earnings Trends: Here’s how Staples has been performing on an annual basis: Fiscal Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Revenue ($) in millions 23,080 24,280 24,140 24,660 24,380 Diluted EPS ($) 1.13 1.02 1.21 1.40 -0.31 Next, our CHEAT SHEET investing framework asks us to drill down to the recent quarterly data: Quarter Jan. 31, 2012 Apr. 30, 2012 Jul. 31, 2012 Oct. 31, 2012 Jan. 31, 2013 Revenue ($) in millions 6,374 6,105 5,498 6,353 6,568 Diluted EPS ($) 0.4098 0.27 0.18 -0.89 0.1187 Past Performance: Staples has beat analyst estimates 2 times in the past four quarters. This is not consistent enough to get bullish yet. “E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our successful CHEAT SHEET investing framework. Don’t waste another minute – click here to discover our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now! (Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Email any earnings discrepancies to earnings [at] wallstcheatsheet.com) Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) will report earnings before markets open on Tuesday, May 21st. AutoZone, Inc. is a specialty retailer of automotive replacement parts and accessories. The Company offers an extensive product line for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories and non-automotive products. Autozone operates in United States and Puerto Rico, and Mexico. Here is your Cheat Sheet to Autozone Earnings: Earnings Expectations: Analysts expect earnings of $7.23 per share on revenues of $2.22 billion. Currently, the company’s P/E ratio stands at 16.66. Analyst Trends: Analysts have a neutral outlook for the company’s next-quarter performance. Over the past three months, the average estimate for next quarter’s earnings is a profit of $10.35 and has not changed. For the current year, the average estimate is a profit of $27.61, which is worse than the estimate ninety days ago. Earnings Trends: Here’s how Autozone has been performing on an annual basis: Fiscal Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Revenue ($) in millions 6,523 6,817 7,363 8,073 8,604 Diluted EPS ($) 10.04 11.73 14.97 19.47 23.48 Next, our CHEAT SHEET investing framework asks us to drill down to the recent quarterly data: Quarter Feb. 29, 2012 May. 31, 2012 Aug. 31, 2012 Nov. 30, 2012 Feb. 28, 2013 Revenue ($) in millions 1,804 2,112 2,764 1,991 1,855 Diluted EPS ($) 4.15 6.28 8.563 5.41 4.78 Past Performance: Autozone has beat analyst estimates 4 times in the past four quarters. Shareholders could expect a boost if the company beats estimates. “E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter” is a core component of our successful CHEAT SHEET investing framework. Don’t waste another minute – click here to discover our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now! (Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Email any earnings discrepancies to earnings [at] wallstcheatsheet.com) Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis:Company Description: Johnson & Johnson is a leader in the pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer products industries.Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:1. Avg. High Yield Price 2. 20-Year DCF Price 3. Avg. P/E Price 4. Graham NumberJNJ is trading at a premium to all four valuations above. The stock is trading at a 47.4% premium to its calculated fair value of $58.16. JNJ did not earn any Stars in this section.Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked

Last week I wrote an article Picking An All-Star REIT Team To Defend Against Interest Rate Risk that included many of my SWAN (sleep well at night) picks. Although I didn't include all of the REITs that are in my Intelligent REIT Investor newsletter, I did include many. As I explained in that article, it's important to build out a team and it's even more essential to designate each REIT for its unique value proposition.I like using the team analogy because that's exactly how an investor should think when he or she is modeling a REIT portfolio. You are the coach and you should look at each REIT as a prospective player in hopes of determining whether the individual prospect can be optimized and integrate into your overall playbook.Better yet, you (the coach remember) should look at each REIT in an effort to filter out the

Investing in quality dividend equities is a time-tested strategy to mitigate losses, dampen volatility, and generate income in most market environments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 are both at record highs but there are concerns that too many stocks are overvalued. The rally may have room left to run but it would be wise to position yourself for downside protection. Most companies with high yields have strong financial positions that make them attractive to investors. Additionally, these companies usually have high cash flows from operations, one of the most important factors in a prospective investment. The yields on junk bonds are near record lows and some are now yielding less than five percent: would you rather buy low quality bonds or high quality equities with comparable, or higher, yields?This week there are eight ex-dividend candidates that have been analyzed below based upon

Global gold demand for the first quarter of 2013 declined both in terms of tonnage (-13%) and dollars (-16%).The volume decline was driven primarily by 177 tonnes of outflows from ETFs, versus inflows of 53 tonnes last year. If we remove this component from the mix, total global demand actually increased by 8% during the first quarter. (click to enlarge) It is somewhat odd to see that investment demand in the form of bars and coins climbed by a healthy 10.3%, while ETF investment demand turned negative and total holdings dropped by over 7%. Some of this divergence can be explained by investors exiting paper positions in precious metals in favor of taking possession of the physical metal. This decision stems from a growing distrust of the banks and financial institutions that act as custodians for the popular gold and silver ETFs. Many precious metals investors do not believe

Much has been made of the upside technical breakout experienced by the US Dollar last week, but when I dissect the components of USD strength, I found that much of the breakout was attributable to Yen weakness. In fact, the other components of USD are all testing support, which suggests that the euro and commodities are poised to rally here.At first glance, the USD breakout looks impressive, especially on the weekly chart: (click to enlarge) Now consider how weak the JPYUSD has been: (click to enlarge) Now consider the EURUSD rate, which is testing technical support: (click to enlarge) The commodity weakness story is well known. Disappointment over Chinese growth has been a principal driver, but the flip side of that coin has been USD strength. The commodity sensitive Aussie Dollar is also testing a key technical support zone: (click to enlarge) So is its cousin, the Canadian Dollar.

Commitments of TradersLast week's commitments of traders report (cut-off date Tuesday May 21) showed little change (approx. 3,500 contracts net), but only about 83,000 contracts remain of the large speculator net long position in the 100 ounce COMEX contract. Since the price declines later in the week are not captured in this report, further changes have since then presumably occurred. Again, it is not bullish when the large speculator gross short position increases and it is still doing so (currently at 103,195 contracts). Gold has given a new MACD sell signal on the daily chart, so these short positions have probably increased further. That may change if the test of the April crash low is successful, which currently appears to have low probability due to gold stocks having reached lower lows late last week.(click to enlarge) Gold, commitments of traders. Small speculators are now neutral and the

We often speak about the loss of manufacturing jobs and the shift to a service economy. This hand-wringing ignores the fact the U.S. is still an industrial powerhouse.Dover Corporation (DOV), an $8.1 billion diversified manufacturing company, reported first quarter 2013 financial results. Dover results provide the basis for our investment thesis.Dover operates in four broad segments of the economy. Dover Communication Technologies, the leader in acoustics products to the handset market, continued to benefit from multiple design wins across the OEM landscape, as the smartphone market once again posted strong growth. Within this segment, consumer electronics, medical technology, aerospace /defense, and telecom performed well and are a source of core strength.Key acquisitions throughout 2012, most notably Production Control Services, enabled Dover Energy to add multiple technologies to its artificial lift offerings, including gas lift and nitrogen generation, while greatly improving overall automation offerings.Dover Engineered Systems

We're now in the midst of 18 straight up Tuesdays for the S&P 500. While this is a statistical anomaly, surely there is someone out there who thinks there's an investing strategy to exploit this "trend". Perhaps buy leveraged ETFs on Wednesday nights and sell them Thursday nights? Perhaps buy call options for even more leverage? I know the wheels are spinning.Unlike when I wrote about an actual observable and investable trend of investing on the 1st day of the month (there was a very pronounced positive alpha play here before the mainstream media caught wind of it, primarily because of 1st of month fund flows from 401(k)s, pension plans, etc.), there is nothing here for Tuesdays, I'm sad to say. See, this is nothing more than a statistic occurrence that is just as likely to pop up in any given year. Next year, we may