Hello, friends and Fortune readers.
The IPO market hit an almost 14-year high last week as 25 companies were scheduled to go public. Of the companies that followed through on their public offerings over the course of five days, the two biggest–biotech firm Catalent and Synchrony Financial, General Electric’s now former consumer credit arm–raised a combined $3.75 billion.
Public listings are taking a breather this coming week. Also this week, the earnings wave continues. Keep your eyes out for Disney’s numbers on Tuesday to see the residual effects of its hit movie Frozen, as well as how the theme parks have faired since a recent price increase.
Here’s what else you need to know for your week ahead.
1. The handbag faceoff.
Coach, Michael Kors and Kate Spade have been battling it out to gain an advantage in the luxury handbag market. Kors, which started in 2002, has made fast progress with nearly 89% consumer name recognition. It is the first to report earnings on Monday and is expected to bring in $851 million in sales with earnings of 81 cents a share.
Coach, the 800-pound gorilla in the market, has struggled this quarter, laying off workers and telling analysts that this year may be slower than expected. Still, the company is expecting to notch $1.1 billion in sales and earnings-per-share of 51 cents when it reports Tuesday.
Kate Spade, a much smaller player in the market, will report on Friday. Analysts estimate earnings-per-share losses of 1 cent on $237 million in sales.
2. All about manufacturing.
This week’s economic announcements are all about manufacturing and wholesale. After stellar 4% second-quarter GDP growth, economists will be looking to see how U.S. manufacturing is fairing and if the booming economic growth will continue throughout the year.
First up is the ISM report on Tuesday: Analysts expect a reading of 56 (any number above 50 represents expansion in the industry). Also on Tuesday, watch out for Factory orders, which are estimated to grow by 0.6% ahead of the valuable holiday shopping season. The week will end with reports on productivity and wholesale orders on Friday morning.
3. Samsung Galaxy Alpha announcement.
It looks like Samsung may be taking the tech spotlight on Monday as it finally unveils its new Galaxy Alpha phone, according to reports by insider-rag SamMobile.
Much has been leaked about the phone, which is supposed to forsake the traditional plastic body for a sleeker metallic construction. The phone is Samsung’s mid-range model and will feature a 4.8-inch 720p display, a fingerprint scanner and 32 gigabytes of storage.
AllAboutSamsung notes that the announcement, the date of which has been top secret, could be pushed out to Aug. 13.
4. Playing for profits.
Gaming companies Activision Blizzard and Zynga will reveal their second-quarter performance this week in the wake of mediocre results from Nintendo, which has struggled to kindle interest in its Wii U console.
Activision, maker of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, is expected to bring in 22 cents a share profit on $607.6 million in sales when it reports Tuesday. The quarter looks less rosy for mobile-game maker Zynga, set to report on Thursday, which is estimated to lose 7 cents a share on $161 million in sales.
5. Nothing spells profits quite like Andy Warhol.
While other sectors of the economy have struggled to pick up steam, the auction market has notched a decent year so far. Exactly how good will be seen on Friday when Sotheby’s announces its earnings. Profits are estimated to be $1.31 a share on $345.7 million in sales. The premier auction house brought in more than $200 million in a June sale of works by Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian and others.
Sotheby’s has also unveiled a new pact with eBay this month to start hosting live New York auctions together, giving Sotheby’s access to the online retailers 145 million active buyers. The companies are giving the partnership another go after a failed 2003 effort and say, this time, the timing is right.
