MARKET SAVVY : Early Warnings

About 120 U.S. companies have made profit “pre-announcements” for the third quarter, according to Boston-based earnings tracker First Call/Thomson Financial, including insurer Progressive Corp., whose warning triggered a slide in its shares Monday. As is usually the case, most of the companies have guided analysts downward. A look at some major pre-announcements:

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Analysts’ Company said Analysts’ Ticker consensus earnings updated Company symbol at pre-annc. would be: consensus Pier 1 Imports PIR $0.18 Below $0.13 3Com COMS 0.25 Below 0.24 Tenet Healthcare THC 0.43 Below 0.38 Goodyear GT 0.90 Below 0.58 Seagate SEG 0.35 Below -0.09 Progressive PGR 1.46 Below 0.70 Lockheed Martin LMT 0.51 Below 0.47 Tupperware TUP -0.03 Above 0.02 Microsoft MSFT 0.33 Above 0.34 Case CSE 0.42 Below -0.07 Dole DOL 0.39 Below 0.15 Saks SKS 0.50 Below 0.22 Sterling Commerce SE 0.45 Below 0.41

Approx. report Company date* Pier 1 Imports 9/14 3Com 9/22 Tenet Healthcare 10/6 Goodyear 10/13 Seagate 10/14 Progressive 10/15 Lockheed Martin 10/18 Tupperware 10/19 Microsoft 10/20 Case 10/21 Dole 11/8 Saks 11/17 Sterling Commerce 11/19

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*All report dates are tentative.

Source: First Call/Thompson Financial