Focus on Revenue: Coming Week

Updated from 10/17/09

(Updated with news about CIT.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The coming week is a critical one, as companies from all sectors of the market will report third-quarter earnings in what may be the most important earnings season ever.

During a week when the Dow Jones Industrial Average reclaimed -- and relinquished -- the psychologically important 10,000 level, fluctuations in the market were mostly fueled by earnings reports from big U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) and Bank of America(BAC Quote), and a handful of technology companies, such as Google(GOOG Quote) and Intel(INTC Quote).

Over the next five sessions, though, a wave of earnings reports from every corner of the market will hit the wires. Thirteen of the Dow's 30 components will release quarterly results in the coming week, compared with only seven members of the blue-chip average that have reported thus far.

"We're going to get a better cross-section of the overall economy," says Paul Nolte, director of investments with Hinsdale Associates. "What's going to be important is exactly what we've been looking at over the past week. We want to see revenue pick up, we want to see earnings beats and, most importantly, we want to hear what they say about their business going forward."

Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist with Banyan Partners, agrees that the coming week offers "a broader sense of the overall health of the economy and the overall business conditions," but remains concerned about what year-over-year revenue comparisons will show.

"We're going to see a continuation of the trend where there are earnings beats and there is a slight improvement in the guidance going forward," Pavlik says. "Revenue is going to be an issue, which has forced companies to continue to use cost-cutting programs. It really depends on whether analysts' forecasts for revenue have been taken down enough."