Earnings Watch

A sampling of companies reporting quarterly earnings Wednesday, ranked by year-over-year growth, and companies due to report today, ranked by analysts’ forecast change in earnings per share (EPS) from the year-ago quarter, compiled by First Call:

Reporting Wednesday

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Pct. above/ 1997 Ticker Consensus Actual below 3rd-qtr. Company symbol EPS EPS estimate EPS PP&L; Resources PPL $0.49 $0.54 +10% $0.45 CVS CVS 0.25 0.25 0 0.21 American General AGC 1.01 1.03 +2 0.88 Conseco CNC 0.89 0.90 +1 0.79 Hershey Foods HSY 0.74 0.74 0 0.67 Russell RML 0.68 0.70 +3 0.64 Northern St. Pwr. NSP 0.69 0.67 -3 0.62 Shared Medical SMS 0.60 0.60 0 0.56 Anheuser-Busch BUD 0.83 0.84 +1 0.79 Wrigley (Wm) Jr. WWY 0.66 0.63 -5 0.60 Norfolk Southern NSC 0.47 0.40 -15 0.44 Bethlehem Steel BS 0.21 0.21 0 0.26 -19 Mobil MOB 0.60 0.61 +2 1.11 Battle Mtn. Gold BMG -0.03 -0.04 NM* 0.00

Year over-year Company % growth PP&L; Resources +20% CVS +19 American General +17 Conseco +14 Hershey Foods +10 Russell +9 Northern St. Pwr. +8 Shared Medical +7 Anheuser-Busch +6 Wrigley (Wm) Jr. +5 Norfolk Southern -9 Bethlehem Steel BS Mobil -45 Battle Mtn. Gold NM*

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Reporting Today

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Ticker Consensus Year-ago Predicted Company symbol EPS estimate quarter pct. chg. MCI WorldCom WCOM $0.21 $0.07 +200% Humana Inc HUM 0.32 0.27 +19 Pharmacia & Upjohn PNU 0.41 0.35 +17 Chubb CB 1.04 1.00 +4 Thomas & Betts TNB 0.73 0.73 0 Hercules HPC 0.76 0.78 -3 Halliburton HAL 0.41 0.47 -13 Wendy’s International WEN 0.34 0.39 -13 Perkin-Elmer PKN 0.32 0.41 -22 Electronic Data Systems EDS 0.34 0.50 -32 Consolidated Natural Gas CNG 0.06 0.09 -33 Data General DGN -0.04 0.35 NM* Oryx Energy ORX -0.29 0.40 NM* CBS CBS -0.01 -0.03 NM*

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* NM = not meaningful. A loss in any period makes percentage change not calculable.

Note: Year-over-year growth and percentage changes are based on earnings-per-share figures and may differ from percentage changes based on total profit.

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