5 Reasons Not to Worry This Week

It's not a perfect world out there for investors, but things may be starting to get better.

Seeing just 88,000 nonfarm payrolls added in March was a disappointment, but there was a reason that there was chatter earlier in the week indicating that the Fed may be able to put an end to quantitative easing sooner rather than later.

I recently went over some of the companies that are expected to post lower quarterly profits when they report this week. Thankfully, they're the exceptions and not the rule.

Let's go over some publicly traded companies that are expected to stand tall this week by posting year-over-year improvement on the bottom line.

Source: Thomson Reuters.

Clearing the table
Let's start at the top with Fastenal. The maker of fasteners for the industrial and construction industries is expected to post a 9% increase in earnings when it reports on Wednesday.

Fastenal is generous enough to provide investors with monthly sales data. That was a flattering metric until recently, posting double-digit year-over-year growth for 29 consecutive quarters. That streak came to an end this past October, where growth has remained positive but is now growing in the single digits.

Titan Machinery is another company projected to post improving net income. The retailer of agricultural and construction equipment is now up to 106 stores throughout North America. It also has 13 stores scattered around Romania, Bulgaria, and now Serbia.

Wall Street sees bottom-line improvement at Titan, but investors have a right to worry. Titan has come up short on the bottom line in two of its past three quarters.

Next up we have JinkoSolar. These aren't the best of times for solar companies, and JinkoSolar knows it. The distributor of photovoltaic products has posted losses in each of the five previous quarters. It used to be very profitable before that, but life can be pretty hard when cash-strapped European markets are holding off on solar subsidies and the solar boom in China is meandering. The good news here is that the pros see a much narrower deficit this time around.

Bed Bath & Beyond is the leading stand-alone retailer of home goods. From shower curtains to fitted bed sheets, the company sells a wide assortment of soft goods at its superstores. Homeowners and renters are feeling pretty good these days about improving things around the house, and that's where Bed Bath & Beyond is there for the simple solutions.

Finally, we have Rite Aid reporting. The drugstore chain surprised investors with a profit last time out, but you have to go all the way back to 2007 to find the last time that Rite Aid didn't post a quarterly loss before that.

Rite Aid announced mixed sales for the month of March last week. Pharmacy sales fell on a per-store basis, but the rest of the store posted positive growth. Rite Aid's expected to post another quarterly loss on Thursday, but it should be a lot smaller than the prior year's deficit.

Cross those fingers, but know the fundamentals
Investors in these five stocks have a right to be excited. They are all improving their financial situations. They are worthy of the gains that the market rally has bestowed upon them over the past year.

I wouldn't be uncomfortable owning any of these companies. They're doing the right thing, regardless of Mr. Market's mood swings.

The expectations may be high, but these five stocks wouldn't have it any other way.

To learn about a few ETFs that have great promise for delivering profits to shareholders in a recovering global economy, check out The Motley Fool's special free report "3 ETFs Set to Soar During the Recovery." Just click here to access it now.

The article 5 Reasons Not to Worry This Week originally appeared on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Bed Bath & Beyond. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.