Bill Maurer's  Instablog

Coinstar (CSTR): Coinstar will report after the bell Monday, which is curious because the company just announced a streaming partnership with Verizon (VZ) this morning to rival Netflix (NFLX). It's odd that they would announce this the morning of their earnings call, and I'm almost wondering if this means they will report a bad number. I'm not going to say they will, but it almost looks like they want to hide something with this unusual timing.

Panera (PNRA): The food retailer reports tomorrow after the bell. I would expect a good report, but this name is currently trading at all time highs. If we close near $160 or even above it going in, I'd think people might take some profits. Be careful buying into earnings when stocks are at all time highs.

Cisco (CSCO): The networking company will report Wednesday afternoon. They've done well in the past two quarters, but the stock has run up a ton. It might sell off afterwards. I also lean towards the short side on this one given the recent warnings we've seen from similar names in the space, including Acme Packet (APKT), Juniper Networks (JNPR), and Riverbed (RVBD).

Sprint (S): Sprint's first quarter with the iPhone. It will be fun to watch. They've really improved their income statement numbers lately, but a big loss is still expected. Analyst expectations are low, so a beat is entirely possible. They still have a lot of debt though, and if they didn't do well this quarter, 2012 will be a tough year.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.