Wall Street This Week: Six Flags Rides, Alphabet Arrives

From the country's largest operator of regional amusement parks posting quarterly results to the company formerly known as Google stepping up with its first financial update since its name change, here are some of the things that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street.

Monday -- You Must Be This Tall to Invest

We're heading into the belly of earnings season in the week ahead. Hundreds of companies will be reporting fresh quarterly results this week, and one of them will be amusement park operator Six Flags (SIX), which reports after markets close Monday.

%VIRTUAL-WSSCourseInline-975%Running the country's largest chain of regional amusement parks has its seasonal lumpiness, but this report covers the summer months of July, August, and September. It will be Six Flags' most lucrative quarter. Analysts see modest top-line growth but dramatic earnings improvement. A good report combined with the stock's juicy 4.3 percent dividend yield may smoke out more investors looking to hop on the ride.

Tuesday -- We're Getting the Band Together

It's been five years since Activision Blizzard (ATVI) put out a "Guitar Hero" game, making Tuesday's release of "Guitar Hero Live" a pretty big deal. It's not just a matter of slapping new songs into the old platform, where gamers try to play plastic guitars in time to the music.

From the new six-button layout on the guitar controller to a new in-game layout that uses full-motion video to simulate the concert experience, Activision Blizzard is hoping to reintroduce a classic to new music-loving gamers.

Wednesday -- McFly Like an Eagle

Die-hard "Back to the Future" fans know the significance of Oct. 21, 2015. That's the day when Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly arrived to the future at the end of the first film. We've come a long way in the 30 years since the movie came out. We don't have the flying cars or hoverboards depicted in the movie, but the prediction that the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series remains a possibility, with the Cubbies advancing to the National League Championship Series.

You don't have to wax nostalgic alone. Several movie chains will be screening the "Back to the Future" movies Wednesday. It's a smart call: Wednesday is typically dead at the local multiplex. Check your neighborhood theater for available show times.

Thursday -- Alphabet Soup

We'll be checking out Google's first quarterly report since changing its name to Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) this summer. The name change was done to emphasize Big G's realm beyond its flagship search engine, but we all know that online advertising remains Alphabet's bread and butter.

Alphabet -- like many dot-com giants that rely on advertising -- has been coping with the challenge to monetize usage on mobile devices. Are advertisers reluctant to pay as much as they used to in generating leads? Are consumers clicking on mobile ads with the same fervor that they did ads on their desktops and laptops? We'll get a glimpse Thursday into those trends.

Friday -- Rated PG

Procter & Gamble (PG) wraps up a busy week of earnings reports with its own updated financials. This is the company behind many of the leading brands you will come across as you stroll through the supermarket aisles. We're talking about Pampers diapers, Charmin toilet paper and Crest toothpaste.

Analysts see Procter & Gamble earning 95 cents a share for the quarter, just shy of the 99 cents a share it served up during the same quarter last year. That's not good -- and it could get worse, since Procter & Gamble has fallen short of Wall Street profit targets every single quarter over the past year.

Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Activision Blizzard and Alphabet (A and C shares). The Motley Fool recommends Procter & Gamble. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days and check out our free report for one great stock to buy for 2015 and beyond.