The week ahead: Earnings season kicks off with a bang

Earnings season kicks off with a bang this week, as at least three major technology companies report their results. After weeks of warnings and preannouncements from just about every technology sector, investors will get to see just how bad things really are.

This week, a couple of bellwethers--Yahoo and Motorola--will report, along with silicon equipment company LAM Research.

Investors will also be keeping an eye out for some economic indicators. The core producer price index should be released Thursday, as will the Commerce Department's report on retail sales.

Other events scheduled this week:

	Tech Events

• The Standard will host Roam, a conference that will focus on the wireless industry, at the Westin La Paloma in Tucson, Ariz., April 9-11. Speakers will include former Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard, and Cingular Wireless CEO Stephen Carter.

• Professionals interested in computer and software security may attend the RSA Conference 2001 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif., April 9-12.

• The Embedded Systems Conference runs April 9-12 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The event draws participants from the biggest companies whose work is devoted to creating the hardware and software for nontraditional computing devices such as factory robots, antilock brakes, fighter jet radar, routers or hard disks. Giving the Tuesday keynote address will be famed science fiction author Douglas Adams, who wrote "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series.

• The Storage Networking World conference in Palm Desert, Calif., will tackle trend of higher-end storage systems that are independent from the servers. It's the new direction for storage devices such as storage area networks and network-attached storage, and the biggest news at the show is expected to come when Cisco Systems jumps into the fray on Monday. Previously, high-end storage networking had relied on specialized network standards, but Cisco's arrival is emblematic of the switch to the more ordinary standards used by the Internet. Monday keynotes will be from Dan Warmenhoven, chief executive of Network Appliance, and Greg Reyes, Brocade Communications Systems CEO. Tuesday, Nora Denzel, head of Hewlett-Packard's storage group, and Bob Beauchamp, CEO of BMC Software, will speak.

• DSLcon Spring 2001 will take place at the Colorado Convention Center, Denver, Colo., April 9-12. The event focuses on trends in the DSL (digital subscriber line) industry. Speakers include Daniel Moffat, CEO of New Edge Networks.

• Softworld 2001 takes place at the World Trade Center in Boston, Mass. April 9-11. The conference is geared towards executives and IT professionals interested in learning about how software can improve internal business operations like supply chain management.

Tuesday, April 10

• Technology guru George Gilder will host Storewidth2001 at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, Calif., April 10-12. The conference will address the future of the computer data storage industry. CEOs scheduled to speak include Ellen Hancock of Exodus Communications, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, and Eric Schmidt of Novell.

• The Rich Media Roadshow takes place at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, Calif. on April 10. The event will brief media buyers and marketing managers on emerging marketing technologies and features roundtables, original research and case studies.

• Napster goes back to court. Judge will hear arguments on whether or not Napster's filters are working, on whether music publishers and independent labels should be granted class-action status for their lawsuits.

• Internet.com will host a breakfast forum about broadband at the Cambridge Marriott in Cambridge, Mass. on April 10. The forum will address how adoption of broadband technology continues to lag despite the strong demand. Panelists include Paul Keefe, general manager of XO Communications.

• The Georgia Educational Technology Conference takes place at the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, Savannah, Ga., April 10-12. The event is for educators interested in learning about how to effectively use technology in education.

Wednesday, April 11

• Palm, a maker of handheld computing devices, will hold an analyst meeting in Santa Clara, Calif. on April 11.

• SmartForce and the nonprofit Rainbow/PUSH Coalition will kick off Silicon Valley Digital Connections 2001 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif. April 11-13. The conference will include discussion on eliminating the "digital divide" by providing the training necessary to help people to enter the technology work force. Keynote speakers include Reverend Jesse L. Jackson; Cisco CEO John Chambers; SmartForce CEO Greg Priest; and Symantec CEO John Thompson.

• Internet.com will host a breakfast forum about streaming media at the Beverly Hills Holiday Inn in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 11. The event will discuss the latest trends in streaming media and how the technology can drive traffic and sales.

Thursday, April 12

• Vault.com CEO Samer Hamadeh will speak at the New York Info Tech Forum at the 200 Fifth Club in New York City on April 12. The topic will focus on how employers and employees can cope in the current climate of shutdowns and layoffs.

	Earnings

Monday, April 9

• Sawtek makes equipment for radio towers. Per-share consensus estimate for the fiscal second quarter: profit of 22 cents.

• RSA Security makes security software. Per-share consensus estimate for the first quarter: profit of 16 cents.

• Infosys Technologies makes software used by the telecommunications, banking and manufacturing industries. Per-share consensus estimate for the fiscal fourth quarter: profit of 29 cents.

• Sonus Networks makes packet-based networking equipment for voice and data networks. Per-share consensus estimate for the first quarter: loss of 2 cents.

• Motorola makes chips and wireless handheld communication devices for consumers. Per-share consensus estimate for the first quarter: loss of 7 cents.

• ARM Holdings licenses its chip designs to chipmakers. Per-share consensus estimate for the first quarter: profit of 3 cents.

• Dallas Semiconductor manufactures chips for cell phones, storage computers and telecommunications equipment. Per-share consensus estimate for the first quarter: profit of 14 cents.

• Redback Networks makes networking equipment for telecommunications companies. Per-share consensus estimate for the first quarter: loss of 15 cents.

• Research in Motion makes wireless handheld communication devices for consumers. Per-share consensus estimate for the fiscal fourth quarter: profit of 7 cents.

• Yahoo runs one of the largest Internet portal sites. Per-share consensus estimate for the first quarter: zero cents.

• MIPS Technologiesmakes chips for video games, handheld computers and cable set-top boxes. No estimates were available.

• Juniper Networksmakes makes networking equipment for telecommunications service providers. Per-share estimates for the first quarter: profit of 25 cents.

• DoubleClick provides advertising services for Web sites. Per-share estimates for the first quarter: loss of 9 cents.

• Handspring makes handheld devices for consumers. Per-share estimates for the fiscal third quarter: loss of 6 cents.

• Rambuslicenses its chipset designs to semiconductor makers. Per-share estimates for the fiscal second quarter: profit of 11 cents.

	Economic Reports

Wednesday, April 11

• The import and export price index from the Department of Commerce indicates the percentage change in import and export prices for any given month. No estimates were available, for what these numbers will be for March, but both fell 0.1 percent in February.

• Retail Sales for the month of March are expected to rise 0.1 percent compared with February's fall of 0.2 percent. Excluding automobile sales, Wall Street expects retail sales to climb 0.2 percent vs. a decrease of 0.3 percent the previous month.

• The Producer Price Index is expected to increase 0.1 percent in March from last month's gain of 0.1 percent. The core PPI, which excludes food and energy prices, is expected to rise 0.1 percent from last month's fall of 0.3 percent. This Labor Department index tracks the cost of what manufacturers pay for raw goods to make products.

• Initial Claims refers to the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits each week as reported by the Department of Labor. Analysts expect the number of claims to rise to 390,000 for the week of April 7 from the previous week's 383,000.

• Business Inventories represents the percentage change in the amount of goods in inventory in the United States as reported monthly by the Department of Commerce. Wall Street expects inventories to rise 0.1 percent in February compared to a rise of 0.4 percent in January.

Margaret Kane contributed to this report.