Energy Earnings On Tap in Coming Week

Updated from 7/24/2010

Update includes news that BP's board is likely to appoint managing director Bob Dudley to succeed embattled CEO Tony Hayward.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Earnings season marches on next week. Market observers are keeping their fingers crossed that firms will continue signaling more of the same: good results and encouraging comments that dispel "double-dip" talk.

"I think the earnings season, so far, has established the fact that earnings are coming in better and revenue growth is appearing for a lot of companies," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners. "Bottom line is that the earnings season has already been factored in as a positive."

"I think [this week is] really going to be a continuation of a trend of reassurances from companies that the economy, both here in the U.S and globally, continues to grow and that we're not heading for a double-dip," said Gary Flam, portfolio manager at Bel Air Investment Advisors. "What we've seen is management is cautious heading into the back half of the year. But based on their existing business, they are pretty optimistic about how they are going to perform. So, their caution seems more swayed by the headlines the last couple of months rather than their actual businesses."

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On Thursday alone, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 200 points, thanks to better-than-expected results and promising guidance from the likes of UPS(UPS), Caterpillar (CAT) and 3M(MMM). The rally continued Friday after Honeywell (HON) and others also raced past estimates.

But after getting good reads on the technology and industrial sectors, the market will move on to examine a bevy of energy names in the coming week.

Earnings will be due from several integrated oil companies, but the spotlight surely will shine brightest on BP(BP) when it reports Tuesday morning. Since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded 0in April, a torrent of oil from a broken well created the worst oil disaster in U.S. history and unleashed a wave of criticism from all fronts: politicians, regulators, Gulf coast residents and Wall Street.

The market is looking for BP's earnings to rise in the second quarter, up to $1.39 a share vs. $1.01 a share in the year-earlier quarter. The market is also searching for clarity on further costs associated with the spill.