Earnings This Week: Is Palm’s Run Over?

Stocks managed to close out last week higher after sinking below their November lows on concerns about the weakening economy and increasing unemployment. The financial sector managed to make some positive headway after Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reassured investors that the first two months of 2009 were strong.

This week, investors will be looking at earnings of a few big tech names including Oracle Inc.
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and Adobe Systems
(
ADBE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
. Nike Inc.
(
NKE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and FedEx Corp.
(
FDX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
should also move stocks when they release their results.

Palm, Inc.
(
PALM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is slated to report its third-quarter results after the close on Thursday, and analysts polled by Thomson Financial are looking for a loss of $0.60 per share, almost four times as large as last year, on revenue of $109.6 million.

Palm shares have more than doubled since the beginning of the year as investors look past its deepening losses and toward the Palm Pre, its newest smart phone. In recent weeks, analysts have questions whether the company’s cash flow could sustain the roll out effort for the widely anticipated Pre. Palm has eased concern by announcing a plan to raise about $84 million with a new stock offering.

Investors may want to be wary trading into earnings as Palm has a near-term tendency to reverse direction between sessions. On December 18, Palm shares tumbled 15.9% in after-hours trading only to reverse course in the following regular session, ending up 13.2%.

Cassie Slane is a Senior Editor at www.MidnightTrader.com.

For more trading strategies, go to TradingMarkets.com/reports.

 Â