Earnings for June 15th -19th : RAD, RHT, JBL, SWHC, AKRX, ORCL, FDX, ADBE, FNSR, PIR, ATU, KR, KMX, DRI

There are two ways to speculate during earnings. One would be to simply take positions as if there was no such thing as an earnings release. The position size would be junior (half normal) or even smaller until after the release. It would be of a size that would be manageable risk-wise in the event of a large post-earnings downdraft of, say, 20%-25%. To be conservative, use 33%.

The second method to play earnings season is to hold no positions through earnings. If an issue moves through a potential buy point just after its earnings release, the position can then be played normally. And if price gaps through a potential entrance point, it should be monitored to see if it pulls back or moves sideways subsequent to the gap.

Some of these latter gap plays have turned out well this season amid a sluggish general market over the past two weeks. While volume on the gap day will provide an understanding of the magnitude of demand for the stock, price is what counts.

Context is also crucial to the equation. A strong market trend tends to bail one out if one's entry is not perfect. A soft market with questionable speculative sentiment will penalize the speculator playing breakouts. They won't work most of the time.

Earnings for Next week:

No.	Ticker	Company	Market Cap	Float Short	Perf Month	Perf Year	Price	Change	Volume	Earnings
1	RAD	Rite Aid Corporation	8.86B	2.93%	14.43%	18.52%	8.96	0.00%	6,870,665	Jun 18/b
2	RHT	Red Hat, Inc.	14.40B	3.09%	3.17%	52.61%	78.01	-0.69%	173,590	Jun 18/a
3	KMX	CarMax Inc.	15.23B	5.45%	2.12%	59.19%	72.63	-0.21%	242,213	Jun 19/b
4	JBL	Jabil Circuit Inc.	4.69B	2.27%	3.73%	24.20%	24.08	-0.43%	195,182	Jun 17/a
5	SWHC	Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation	826.83M	18.14%	2.19%	-9.90%	15.44	0.39%	74,289	Jun 18/a
6	AKRX	Akorn, Inc.	5.33B	12.77%	15.26%	65.58%	46.15	-0.99%	175,285	Jun 16/b
7	ORCL	Oracle Corporation	193.37B	0.75%	1.63%	5.32%	44.17	-0.25%	2,207,321	Jun 17/a
8	FDX	FedEx Corporation	52.49B	1.44%	6.67%	30.23%	183.13	-1.00%	551,551	Jun 17/b
9	DRI	Darden Restaurants, Inc.	8.43B	4.39%	5.29%	38.61%	68.20	1.72%	525,262	Jun 19/b
10	ADBE	Adobe Systems Incorporated	39.85B	0.87%	4.02%	18.07%	79.68	0.04%	429,930	Jun 16/a
11	FNSR	Finisar Corp.	2.40B	9.16%	8.88%	-8.60%	22.66	-1.71%	333,742	Jun 18/a
12	PIR	Pier 1 Imports, Inc.	1.09B	14.98%	-6.42%	-28.36%	12.30	1.74%	579,947	Jun 17/b
13	ATU	Actuant Corporation	1.42B	4.16%	-0.17%	-33.97%	24.14	1.00%	246,862	Jun 17/b
14	KR	The Kroger Co.