Investors bracing for big international results this week

McDonald's hopes to prove to investors and franchisees that its focus on its dollar menu is bolstering sales amid weak consumer spending when it reports second-quarter earnings and June sales.

Aside from a marginal uptick in March and a 2.6 percent year-on-year rise in May, the Illinois-based company has seen negative global same-store sales every month this year.

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The company has sought to use new wrap sandwiches and breakfast items to turn sales around.

Analysts will be watching whether same-store sales in the US, the company's biggest market, continue to grow since posting a 0.7 percent year-on-year rise in April and a 2.4 percent rise in May.

Also of interest will be whether McDonald's was able to gain market share in China, where rival Yum Brands' KFC chain has struggled amid food safety concerns.

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Wall Street analysts expect the company to report earnings of USD 1.40 a share on USD 7.10 billion in revenues.

Earnings

McDonald's Q2 USD 1.40 (USD 1.32)

With Apple's recent hiring spree suggesting that an iWatch will not appear until 2014, the company's results this year still depend largely on the iPhone.

Expectations for its fiscal third quarter improved in the run-up to the results, with Verizon Wireless on Thursday reporting 3.9 million iPhone activations in its most recent quarter, ahead of expectations. Most analysts expect Apple to have sold 26.5 million iPhones but Morgan Stanley believes it may top 30 million.

That could mean Apple beats consensus revenue forecasts of USD 35.11 billion and earnings per share of USD 7.32 for the June quarter, which currently imply flat sales growth and a 20 percent drop in earnings compared with a year ago, as smartphone market growth slows.

However, investors are bracing for a gloomy September outlook. Barclays analysts "wouldn't be surprised" to see earnings guidance around USD 7, well below the USD 8.18 consensus, but shareholders may reserve judgment ahead of the launch of new iPhones and iPads later in theyear.

With new cheaper plastic iPhones on the horizon, many will hope the next quarter proves to be the low point of Apple's recent slowdown. Investors will be watching AT&T's second-quarter results for signs that increased competition in the US mobile market - from a feisty T-Mobile US following its reverse takeover of MetroPCS,and from a revitalised Sprint Nextel after the SoftBank acquisition - is beginning to bite.

Analysts believe AT&T Mobility will also face a tough challenge matching the solid numbers delivered by Verizon Wireless, the mobile market leader, last week which included 941,000 net new monthly contract customers.

Investors will also be hoping for an update of AT&T's own acquisition plans. After sustained speculation that the company was looking at opportunities in Europe, AT&T announced this month that it had agreed to acquire Leap Wireless for USD 1.2 billion in cash - a deal that would add valuable spectrum to AT&T's portfolio and further strengthen its position in the pre-paid mobile market.

Earnings

Apple Q3 USD 7.32 (USD 9.32) AT&T Q2 USD 0.69 (USD 0.66) DuPont Q2 USD 1.27 (USD 1.48)

Boeing reports second-quarter results, and analysts will be looking for an update on the latest mishap involving the 787 Dreamliner, the US manufacturer's newest and most sophisticated passenger jet.

On July 12, a fire broke out on an Ethiopian Airlines Dreamliner while it was empty and parked at London's Heathrow airport. Investigators trying to determine the cause of the fire are focused on an emergency locator transmitter fitted to the aircraft and made by Honeywell, the US aerospace part manufacturer.

The fire is the most serious incident involving the Dreamliner since the aircraft was temporarily grounded by regulators in January after batteries burnt on two 787s. This aircraft is supposed to be an important source of revenue and profit for Boeing, but it has suffered several significant setbacks before and after entering commercial service in 2011.

Barclays analysts expect Boeing to report revenue of USD 20.3 billion for the three months to June 30, and earnings per share of USD 1.59.

Sir Andrew Witty, chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, is expected to face investor questions about the impact on the UK pharmaceutical group of the growing bribery probe launched against it by the Chinese authorities in the past few weeks.

The investigation, which has triggered the detention of four senior Chinese executives and a foreign travel ban on its British financial director, comes as the company prepares to report second-quarter results that analysts expect will be slightly down on the same period in the previous year.

Shareholders will be interested in progress on the company's pipeline of experimental drugs, and commercialisation plans for the three new products approved by US regulators during the period.

They will also hear plans to divest the non-core Ribena and Lucozade brands by the end of the year, with a formal sale process expected to be launched in the autumn following a restructuring of the units from GSK's broader consumer healthcare division.

Consensus forecasts are for sales slightly up at 6.6 billion pound for the second quarter of the year over the same period in 2012, with earnings down to 26 pound a share compared with 26.1 pound.

Earnings

Boeing Q2 USD 1.56 ($1.27) GlaxoSmithKline Q2 26.36 pound (26.14 pound)PepsiCo Q2 USD 1.19 (USD 1.12)

Amazon unveiled plans to build a giant biosphere at a new head office in the past quarter but its ability to cultivate profits, not trees, is what investors will focus on when it releases results.

The ecommerce giant's ability to generate a decent profit margin without stalling its investment-heavy business remains the big question for sceptics, even though Jeff Bezos' company has no lack of admirers.

In the quarter to the end of March Amazon's margins improved and in the three months to the end of June it is again expected to look more profitable than a year ago - though that is not hard because its net income in the same period of 2012 was USD 7 million. This time Wall Street analysts forecast net income of USD 246 million, or 6 cents per share.

Amazon's profits tend to be sapped by periodic bursts of capital spending on new warehouses, data centres and devices.

But its profitability is being boosted by the growing size of its marketplace for third-party sellers and its cloud computing division, both fee-based businesses with higher margins than its core retail operations.

Amazon sales are forecast to hit USD 15.7 billion in the quarter, up nearly 23 percent from a year ago.

Amazon shares have risen 15.4 percent in the past three months, outperforming an 8.3 percent rise in the S&P 500, having underperformed in the previous quarter.

Earnings

Amazon Q2 USD 0.06 (USD 0.02) Statoil Q2 NKr3.69 (NKr3.61)

Earnings

Anglo American Q2 USD 0.86 (USD 1.35)

Results forecasts, from Thomson Reuters, are for fully diluted, post-tax EPS in local currency for the stated fiscal period. The comparable period of the previous year is bracketed. Non-UK reporting periods are broken by quarter: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4. UK periods are designated: Q1, H1 (first half), Q3 and FY (full year).