Ahead of Earnings – BIDU, TXN, DAL, HAL

July 16, 2010, 07:00 am ET, BY Billy- Contributor| Editor: Thomas H. Kee Jr. (Follow on LinkedIn)

Monday will kick off the second week of the Q2 corporate earnings season and some pretty big names will be reporting right out of the gate. A major airline and a couple of prominent technology names will headline what will be a busy day of quarterly results being released. Here are four stocks for traders to keep an eye on in the days leading up to the start of next week.

A Surging Search Engine

The Beijing-based technology company Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) will unveil its Q2 earnings on Monday. Analysts are predicting that the search engine provider’s EPS will nearly double and that total revenue will jump 69.1% from the prior year quarter. Bidu’s stock price has already run up 82.5% so far this year.

The company is coming off of a Q1 which netted Bidu record revenue that was up 59.6% on a year-over-year basis. Net income in Q1 rose 165.3% above the company’s showing in Q1 of 2009. Whether you are a trader who believes this stock is due for a pullback or are a trader who thinks the company’s Q2 operating results will push this stock even higher, you can utilize our free BIDU trading report to help implement proper risk controls when trading the stock.

The semiconductor company Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) is also due to report its quarterly results on Monday. Wall Street is calling for EPS to more than triple and total revenue to increase by 43.2% when compared to the corresponding period last year. Shares of Texas Instruments have fallen 3.7% year-to-date. Traders considering purchasing this stock ahead of earnings are encouraged to review our free TXN trading report for an in-depth technical analysis prior to pulling the trigger.

Ready for Takeoff

The consensus is that Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) will swing to a profit of $0.63 per share versus a loss of $0.24 per share in the year-ago quarter. Total revenue is expected to jump 18.2%. Shares of DAL have advanced 7.3% year-to-date.

Delta is coming off of a loss in Q1 although its operating revenue did increase 2% versus the airline’s Q1 in 2009. The company recently reported that its international traffic for the month of June increased 8.8% from a year ago on a 2.9% improvement in capacity. Traders looking to play this stock going into Delta’s earnings report can check out our free DAL trading report for additional insight.

One other stock for traders to watch on Monday is the oil and gas company Halliburton (NYSE: HAL). Analysts are projecting that the company will check in with a 24.1% gain in EPS on a 16.6% increase in total revenue on a year-over-year basis. Shares of Halliburton are down 6.4% this year. Traders looking to take a long or short position in this stock are advised to check out our free HAL trading report for key technical indicators.

Support and Resistance Plot Chart for

Real Time Updates for Repeat Institutional Readers:

Factset: Request User/Pass

Bloomberg, Reuters, Refinitiv, Zacks, or IB users: Access Here.