By Rick Glaze

It is earnings time again for public companies. Every three months companies tell investors and the public how they are doing financially. The reporting period is not only a ritual, it is a cottage industry. Companies with cadres of workers slice and dice the information leading up to and after the earnings announcements.

What is the big deal, you ask? Stocks thrive on earnings growth or sometimes the potential for earnings growth. Preceding the announcement periods, stock prices can move substantially on the hint of an analyst’s opinion. In fact, there is even a name for this phenomenon - the “whisper” number, which is not what analysts predict but what they imply or hint.

Today expectations are about even - equal numbers of companies are raising expectations as are warning of trouble, so it looks like we can anticipate an even keel for this cycle. Predictions are that earnings will rise roughly 10 percent this quarter and just above that for the third quarter. If that comes to pass, it would be the 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings growth. If you are looking for a recession or the generally lousy economy constantly reported in the major media, you are going to have trouble finding it.

Of note is that top-line, or revenue, growth is still in lagging earnings due largely to profit-margin growth and high worker productivity.

Rick Glaze is president of Glaze Capital Management Inc. of Los Altos and a registered representative offering securities through First Allied Securities Inc. He can be reached at 934-0920.