Market Preview: Getting Conservative

As for Tuesday's scheduled news, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) is slated to report its fiscal fourth-quarter results, and the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters is for a profit of 48 cents a share in the September-ended period on revenue of $902.7 million.

It's been a rough year for Green Mountain with the company seeing a decline on the top line in the first three quarters of the year in the face of increased competition in the wake of the expiration of its K-cup patents. The stock is down more than 36% in 2012, although it has seen a healthy bounce since scraping a 52-week low of $17.11 on July 23.

In other words, Brian Kelley, who was named the company's CEO last week, has his work cut out for him. The former Coca-Cola (KO) executive will take the reins on Dec. 3, succeeding Lawrence Blanford in the role.

The sell side, however, is very bullish with 10 of the 14 analysts covering the stock at either strong buy (5) or buy (5) with a 12-month median price target of $39, implying potential upside of 36% from Monday's close at $28.61.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Scott Van Winkle said he liked the hiring of Kelley, calling it in commentary released last week: "a strong validation of the business and opportunity at GMCR, noting that Kelley passed over the chance to be Coke's president of North American operations. Van Winkle believes that Kelley would have performed due diligence on GMCR and its competitive position, and likely due diligence into issues such as the SEC inquiry and shareholder litigation."

For the fourth quarter, the Canaccord analyst is expecting Green Mountain's sales and earnings "will at least meet consensus forecasts and believes that F2013 guidance is unlikely to change."

Check out TheStreet's quote page for Green Mountain Coffee for year-to-date share performance, analyst ratings, earnings estimates and much more.

Other companies slated to report their quarterly results on Tuesday include ADT Corp. (ADT), Analog Devices (ADI), Culp (CFI), Duane Reade (DRD), Philips-Van Heusen (PVH), Ralcorp Holdings (RAH), and Zoltek Cos. (ZOLT).

It should also be interesting to see if Apple (AAPL) can keep up Monday's momentum after Citigroup initiated coverage of the stock at buy with a $675 price target.

"After a 28% correction since 09/21/12 (since recovered to down 19%), Apple shares are consistent with past corrections in its own history and that of its peers," the firm said. "With y/y growth expected to stabilize in 1H13, we assert this sets up APPL to appreciate toward our PT. But at $675, our price target is 11% below the consensus target, reflecting our perception that risks for Apple are increasingly coming into focus."

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