Earnings Watch

A sampling of companies reporting quarterly earnings Monday, ranked by year-over-year growth, and companies due to report today, ranked by analysts’ forecast change in earnings per share (EPS) from the year-ago quarter, compiled by First Call:

Reporting Monday

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Pct. above/ 1997 Year- Ticker Consensus Actual below 3rd-qtr. over-year Company symbol EPS EPS estimate EPS % growth Baker Hughes BHI $0.18 $0.20 +11% $0.18 +11% Cigna CI 1.12 1.14 +2 1.17 --3

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Reporting Today

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Ticker Consensus Year-ago Predicted Company symbol EPS estimate quarter pct. chg. Natural Alternatives NAII $0.28 $0.11 +155% Aon AOC 0.77 0.56 +38 U.S. Filter USF 0.36 0.29 +24 Qualcomm QCOM 0.50 0.41 +22 Bergen Brunswig BBC 0.50 0.41 +22 Fremont General FMT 0.98 0.85 +15 Hollywood Entertainment HLYW 0.16 0.14 +14 MBIA MBI 1.16 1.02 +14 Emerson Electric EMR 0.72 0.65 +11 General Re GRN 3.25 2.95 +10 Ralston-Purina RAL 0.28 0.26 +8 Waste Management WMI 0.48 0.47 +2 Texas Utilities Holding TXU 1.03 1.69 -39 Berry Petroleum BRY 0.06 0.23 -74 St. Paul SPC 0.16 0.72 -78 ICN Pharmaceuticals ICN 0.08 0.53 -85 MediaOne Group UMG -0.35 -0.26 NM*

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* NM = not meaningful. A loss in any period makes percentage change not calculable.

Note: Year-over-year growth and percentage changes are based on earnings-per-share figures and may differ from percentage changes based on total profit.

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