Earnings Season Returns

Earnings season is back upon us, starting this week with reports from five of the 30 Dow stocks as well as two behemoths that aren't in the Dow, Google and Citigroup. Remember, the key thing to watch (if you're interested in how these stocks will move in the short term) is not whether earnings are up or down, but whether they beat or fall short of expectations. With that in mind, here's the lineup for this week:

Alcoa (reporting earnings today): The consensus is for revenue to be up 19 percent, with earnings expected to come in at 12 cents per share, as opposed to a loss of 26 cents a share a year ago.

Intel (Tuesday): Revenue is expected to be up 28 percent, with earnings at 43 cents a share after a loss of 7 cents a share a year ago.

JPMorganChase (Thursday): Earnings are expected to be up 72 cents per share, up from 28 cents a share a year ago.

Google (Thursday): Expectations are for earnings of $6.55 per share, up from $5.36 a year ago.

Bank of America (Friday): This stock is expected to be down from a year ago, with a consensus forecast earnings of 20 cents per share, after posting earnings of 33 cents a share in 2009.

General Electric (Friday): The consensus calls for earnings of 27 cents per share, up a tick from 26 cents a share last year.

Citigroup (Friday): Expectations are very low for the onetime banking giant. Last year it reported earnings of 49 cents per share; this year, the consensus estimate is 5 cents per share.