Stocks to watch Monday: Caterpillar, Yahoo

Maker of My Little Pony Hasbro also on tap

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Dow component Caterpillar Inc. will kick-start another busy week of corporate earnings, with about 140 S&P 500 companies slated to announce quarterly results.

Of the 98 companies that far have reported earnings for the third quarter, 70% have reported results above the mean estimate while only 42% have reported sales above the mean, said John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT)  is projected to post third-quarter earnings of $2.21 a share, up 29% from a year earlier, according to a consensus survey by FactSet. Aside from headline profit and revenue data, analysts will be looking at margins and inventory management, according to Rouhan Sharma at Morningstar. Read Morningstar’s comments on Caterpillar’s Q3 earnings

Yahoo is forecast to report third-quarter earnings of 24 cents a share, up 12% year-on-year. Read MarketWatch’s analysis of Yahoo’s Q3 earnings

The online portal and media company plans to close its Korean operations by the end of this year after struggling against more dominant local competitors. Homegrown portals like NHN Corp.’s (KRX:KR:035420)  Naver and Daum Communications Corp. account for the vast majority of search traffic in Korea. Read about Yahoo’s plan to close its Korea operations

Texas Instruments Inc. is likely to announce third-quarter profit of 40 cents a share, down 22% from the same quarter last year. TI’s board on Thursday declared a quarterly dividend of 21 cents a share, up from 17 cents in the previous quarter.

Hasbro is expected to report third-quarter earnings of $1.21 a share, down 6% from a year earlier. Its competitor Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) , which reported on Wednesday, said earnings rose 22% in the latest quarter on strong demand for Monster High and American Girl dolls. Dolls boost Mattel’s quarterly profit

By MarketWatch