Earnings on Tap: P&G, Viacom

Consumer giant  Proctor & Gamble (PG) reports fourth-quarter earnings before the stock market opens Friday. A consensus of Wall Street analysts pegs the firm to clock earnings per share of $0.82, compared with $0.72 in the same quarter last year.

P&G's earnings typically offer a healthy insight into the state of consumer spending--chief executive Robert McDonald recently said he was concerned about slow economic growth in developed countries but added the company would likely meet its annual targets.

Analysts might focus on whether rising commodity costs affected profits and whether an expected growth in revenue would offset costs associated with investing in further forays into emerging markets.

P&G shares have been languishing for a long time--the stock essentially remained flat during the past one- and five-year periods--"but there are few safer ways to play the pent-up spending of the emerging-markets consumer than an investment in P&G," writes Morningstar analyst Lauren DeSanto in her  stock Analyst Report. "As a result, we think the firm's shares are trading at depressed levels."

Also posting results is  Viacom , with analysts, on average, looking for earnings of $0.86 per share, as opposed to $0.69 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Although advertising revenue is expected to increase for pay channels, if the recent results of peers are any indicator, management might need to outline a growth vision for Paramount Pictures, which is slated to lose distribution deals with two of its major partners.