Earnings Watch

A sampling of companies reporting quarterly earnings Tuesday and expected to report today, ranked by year-over-year earnings-per-share (EPS) growth, compiled by First Call:

Reporting Tuesday

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Analysts’ % above/ 1997 Yr- Ticker est. Actual below 4th-qtr. over-yr Company symbol EPS EPS est. EPS % change Owens Corning OWC $0.98 $1.03 +5% $0.05 +1,960% Ball BLL 0.38 0.45 +18 0.28 +61 Centex CTX 0.84 0.96 +14 0.61 +57 Frontier FRO 0.26 0.27 +4 0.18 +50 EMC EMC 0.46 0.48 +4 0.32 +50 Dow Jones DJ 0.58 0.59 +2 0.40 +48 Black & Decker BDK 1.10 1.18 +7 1.00 +18 C.R. Bard BCR 0.47 0.48 +2 0.42 +14 Foster Wheeler FWC 0.44 0.41 -7 0.36 +14 Cooper Ind. CBE 0.76 0.74 -3 0.65 +14 McGraw-Hill MHP 0.75 0.75 0 0.67 +12 Kimberly-Clark KMB 0.67 0.69 +3 0.62 +11 EG&G; EGG 0.47 0.50 +6 0.45 +11 McDonald’s MCD 0.64 0.64 0 0.58 +10 Coastal CGP 0.63 0.64 +2 0.59 +8 Northern Telecom NT 0.70 0.72 +3 0.74 -3 Con Edison ED 0.55 0.56 +2 0.59 -5 Texaco TX 0.25 0.28 +12 0.85 -67 Phillips Petro P 0.00 0.00 0 0.76 -100 Case CSE -1.27 -1.37 NM 1.56 NM

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Reporting Today

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Ticker Consensus Year-ago Predicted Company symbol EPS estimate quarter pct. chg. America Online AOL $0.14 $0.05 +180% Mallinckrodt MKG 0.47 0.33 +42 Whirlpool WHR 1.08 0.86 +26 Bell Atlantic BEL 0.69 0.61 +13 General Dynamics GD 0.73 0.65 +12 Deluxe DLX 0.71 0.64 +11 American General AGC 0.96 0.88 +9 Philip Morris MO 0.72 0.67 +7 Wm. Wrigley Jr. WWY 0.57 0.54 +6 PP&L; Resources PPL 0.43 0.44 -2 American Home Products AHP 0.43 0.44 -2 Great Lakes Chemical GLK 0.49 0.51 -4 Compaq CPQ 0.37 0.42 -12 Nicor GAS 0.71 0.81 -12 AMP AMP 0.48 0.58 -17 Eastern Enterprises EFU 0.67 0.92 -27 Norfolk Southern NSC 0.42 0.58 -28 DuPont DD 0.58 0.83 -30 St. Paul SPC 0.53 0.80 -34 PacifiCorp PPW 0.22 0.39 -44 Potlatch PCH 0.09 0.20 -55 Ikon Office Solutions IKN 0.12 0.33 -64 Louisiana Pacific LPX 0.10 -0.20 NM Oryx Energy ORX -0.22 0.39 NM Bethlehem Steel BS -0.18 0.28 NM

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

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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