The Fool's Look Ahead

Monday
Let's start off the trading week playfully. Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) and Mattel (NYSE: MAT) will post their quarterly results on Monday morning. Even if the companies appear to be going in different directions -- Hasbro is coming off a masterful 2007 that featured licensing wins and the blockbuster success of the Transformers movie, while Mattel licks its toy-recall wounds -- both companies are expected to post a dip in profitability for the period.

Tuesday
Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) is on the menu come Tuesday. It may be the biggest quarterly report in the company's corporate life, since the results may dictate whether Microsoft raises, lowers, or withdraws its bid. Analysts expect earnings of $0.09 a share, less than the $0.10 it earned a year ago. Yahoo! hasn't grown its year-over-year profitability in each of the past four quarters, but it has topped expectations in the two most recent periods.

Wednesday
Tech bellwethers Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) report on Wednesday. OK, so maybe they're more than bellwethers. Both companies have been growing market share in their specialties, so it's not as if e-tail strength at Amazon or computing vigor at Apple can be accurate proxies for lesser players. Analysts expect both companies to post healthy bottom-line gains. Even with the soft economy, Amazon and Apple still hold amazing appeal for consumers.

Thursday
Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) checks in on Thursday. China's leading search engine doesn't have the same growth hiccups as Yahoo! -- analysts see the company's first-quarter profits nearly doubling to $0.60 a share. Despite Olympic Games protests and legal tussles with the major record labels, Baidu has continued to beat Wall Street expectations. The stock has already more than tripled since being recommended to Rule Breakers subscribers nearly two years ago, and earnings have grown even more rapidly.

Friday
You know it's earnings season when even the typically moribund Friday is loaded with dozens of quarterly reports. After its breakfast menu rollout and its "strategic alternatives" push last year, I'll be checking out Wendy's (NYSE: WEN) to see what its report holds in store this time around.