Big earnings on Tuesday: Oracle, Jefferies

Boeing, Eli Lilly and Allstate announce major stock buybacks

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Tuesday’s session are Oracle Corp., Jefferies Group Inc. and Sanderson Farms Inc.

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL)  is expected to report second-quarter earnings of 61 cents a share, according to a consensus survey by FactSet.

“We expect revenues and non-GAAP [earnings per share] in line with the Street. Despite macro headwinds we believe the crux of the story, however, will begin to play out in fiscal third quarter driven by the confluence of positive hardware-revenue growth, accelerating Fusion app sales and added distribution capacity,” said Joel Fishbein, analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, in a report on the business software giant based in Redwood City, Calif.

“As such, we are looking for revenue growth to reaccelerate to the middle single-digit range in the back half of the year after 12 months of stagnating growth. We maintain our buy rating,” he wrote.

AAR Corp. (NYSE:AIR) , Heico Corp. (NYSE:HEI) , Learning Tree International Inc. (NASDAQ:LTRE)  and Apogee Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG)  also are scheduled to hand in their quarterly report cards after Tuesday’s close.

On the early side, Jefferies Group (NYSE:JEF)  is projected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 33 cents a share.

Sanderson Farms (NASDAQ:SAFM)  is forecast to post fourth-quarter earnings of 35 cents a share.

And FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS)  is likely to post first-quarter earnings of $1.11 a share.

Late Monday recap

After Monday’s bell, a trio of companies — Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) , Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY)  and Allstate Corp. (NYSE:ALL)  — announced major stock-buyback authorizations.

Boeing said it’s prepared to resume share repurchases, targeting buybacks of $1.5 billion to $2 billion next year. The blue chip’s board also approved a 10% increase in the quarterly dividend, to 48.5 cents a share, payable March 8 to stockholders of record as of Feb. 15.

Eli Lilly, meanwhile, said it would buy back $1.5 billion in stock via open-market purchases during 2013.

Separately, Allstate’s board approved a repurchase program of up to $1 billion expected to be completed by the end of 2013, on the heels of recently completed program, also in the amount of $1 billion.

Stock will be acquired through open-market transactions and may include an accelerated repurchase program, the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer said. The buybacks will be funded via the issuance of $1 billion in subordinated debentures.

By MarketWatch