Coming Week: The Earnings Storm Hits

Brace yourselves. This week, there are no mark-to-market headlines to monitor, no news on the uptick rule, and no Federal Reserve meeting (that'll be a concern going into next weekend, though).

However, there are so many earnings reports in the coming week that they overshadow everything else. Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, sums the week up best. "There are a bunch of earnings reports. It really kicks in."

Oh yes, it's first-quarter earnings season, and the worst of the storm is about to slam into the market like a nor'easter approaching Cape Cod in November. John Butters, research analyst with Thomson Reuters, said that 140 constituents of the S&P 500 are due to report earnings over the next five sessions.

With so many S&P 500 members set to report next week, only one thing is for sure: The coming week is the one of the busiest this quarter.

Butters has some pretty grim statistics for how this quarter is shaping up. In the fourth quarter, 59% of S&P 500 companies beat estimates, 8% matched and a whopping 34% came in below targets. That compares to the long-term average, where 61% meet expectations, 19% match and 21% miss estimates.

Although only 10% of the S&P constituents have reported, it looks like a near repeat of the last quarter. So far, 62% of the companies that have reported have beat expectations, 6% have matched and 33% have come in below. But as Butters pointed out, you can't put too much stock in those numbers.