earnings report

S&P 500 companies have nearly completed the second-quarters earnings season, and overall, investors don't have much to complain about: More than 70% of companies have beaten earnings estimates, the index's earnings have risen more than 19% from last year, and nine of 10 sectors have given us a positive earnings surprise.

There's no such thing as a summertime lull when earnings season is upon us. Next week will bring plenty of headlines -- among them box office receipts for the last Harry Potter film and quarterly results from Apple, Cintas, and Microsoft.

Internet-telephone service Skype has boosted its subscribers and cut costs, substantially shrinking its 2010 loss from a year earlier, the company reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday.

Or will it disappoint? Investors -- and taxpayers -- will be watching on Thursday, when GM posts its latest earnings. Despite analyst expectations of a full-year profit, the automaker has warned that fourth-quarter results will fall "significantly" from previous periods.

The Japanese automaker said earnings fell 39% in the third quarter while sales fell 1.2%. But the company is optimistic that auto sales are recovering: It raised its full-year forecast.

Pfizer beat Wall Street expectations by a slim margin as its profits nearly quadrupled, compared to a 2009 quarter hurt by big restructuring charges. Shares rose more than 5% even though the company warned that revenue is slowing and it plans to cut its workforce.

Analysts forecast that Ford will announce a profit of 48 cents a share on revenue of about $30.6 billion when it releases earnings on Friday. That translates into an expected pretax profit of $8 billion in 2010, the best Ford has seen since 1999.

Southwest Airlines's fourth-quarter earnings rose 13% to $131 million as business travelers return after the recession, the company reported Thursday. But will fuel prices cause airline turbulence?

IBM beat Wall Street expectations with its fourth-quarter earnings released Thursday, growing profit 9% and sales 7%. The company has gained from increased corporate spending on computer upgrades and on outsourcing.

Just a day after Apple announced that CEO Steve Jobs was off on his third medical leave since 2004, the stock's already on the rebound. The company smashed its first-quarter earnings expectations, thanks to soaring Asia-Pacific sales.