The Week Ahead: Heart of Earnings Season

After a week of mixed earnings reports, we head into the heart of earnings season with some major names expected to report.

We'll be watching Boeing BA on Wednesday, when the company is scheduled to release its second-quarter results. The worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737 Max jetliner is expected to have an impact on the firm's bottom line. The company said Thursday that it was taking a $4.9 billion aftertax charge to help compensate customers for disruptions that the grounding is causing. Morningstar is maintaining its $335 fair value estimate for the wide-moat stock.

Facebook FB also is expected to report Wednesday. Executives were met with skepticism from lawmakers on Capitol Hill during hearings on the company's plan to launch a cryptocurrency called Libra. Congress voiced extensive policy, trading, and monetary concerns that had the company backpedaling on Libra's launch. Morningstar senior equity analyst Ali Mogharabi said in June that although Libra and its digital wallet companion Calibra may strengthen the firm's wide moat, he suggested that investors take a wait-and-see approach to the company. The stock is currently fairly valued at $200 per share.

Alphabet GOOG hopes to follow up the first quarter's disappointing revenue report with better second-quarter news Thursday. Possibly facing an antitrust investigation by the Justice Department, the stock has fallen more than 10% since spring. But for Alphabet, Google is the key. Investors will be looking for healthy ad revenue numbers from Google Search, YouTube, and Gmail.

Also reporting are AT&T T, Amazon.com AMZN, and Starbucks SBUX.