Wall Street This Week: Fun Stuff Makes Financial News

From a social media darling that will take more than 140 characters to sum up its latest quarterly results to a computer animation studio hoping to regain its charm with investors, here are some of the things that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street.

Monday -- Tweet Dreams are Made of These

Twitter (TWTR) has been all over the map in its brief tenure as a public company. The social media darling went public at $26 less than a year ago. It peaked at nearly $75 a month later, but it briefly traded below $30 in May. Twitter's platform may limit itself to posts of 140 characters or fewer, but there are clearly a lot of characters at play in the stock's volatility.

The market will get an update on how Twitter's monetization efforts are coming along on Monday afternoon when it posts its third-quarter results. Investors are holding out for marginal profitability on heady top-line growth.

Tuesday -- EA Is in the Game

These are interesting times for the video game industry. Gamers have taken to the PS4, Xbox One and Wii U consoles, but they're not buying as many games as they used to. It's easy to see why, since these systems also double as digital entertainment centerpieces. Games also have longer replay values with online features.

This has translated into a challenge that Electronic Arts (EA) has met. It has beaten Wall Street's profit targets consistently over the past year. Its stock is trading near its 52-week high. EA is also expected to post modest double-digit revenue growth when it reports quarterly results on Tuesday.

Wednesday -- Animated Action

DreamWorks Animation (DWA) has been as colorful an investment as its sweeping 3-D animation. The studio behind "Shrek," "Madagascar" and "How to Train Your Dragon" has built some popular franchises, but the up-and-down nature of creating movies, DVDs and TV shows results in some lumpy financials.

DreamWorks has posted larger deficits than analysts were targeting in the two most recent quarters, and those Wall Street pros see the studio posting a loss for the entire year. It should return to profitability next year, and a big catalyst for that is expected to be next month's theatrical debut of "Penguins of Madagascar."

We'll get new perspectives out of the company when it reports quarterly results on Wednesday.

Thursday -- Barista Pay-Bumping

Starbucks (SBUX) is in a good place, and not just because it's pumpkin spice season. The premium coffeehouse chain is as popular as ever, and that should be evident when it reports quarterly financials on Thursday.

Wall Street's banking on revenue climbing 12 percent to $4.23 billion. Analysts see the java bellwether posting a profit of 74 cents a share, up from the 63 cents a share it earned a year earlier. Starbucks recently announced that it would be increasing the hourly pay of most of its baristas, a fair indicator that things are going well.

Friday -- Trick or Treat

Fridays are usually quiet on the financial news front, but this also happens to be Halloween. It has become a pretty big holiday for commerce. Shop.org's Halloween Consumer Online Shopping Outlook concluded last month that Internet shoppers will spend a combined net average of $122.83 this season on costumes, candy, decorations and greeting cards.

So be ready. When a knock on your door is followed by trick-or-treaters holding out for something sweet, know that there are already plenty of companies treating themselves to big profits.

Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends DreamWorks Animation, Starbucks and Twitter. The Motley Fool owns shares of Starbucks and Twitter. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. To read about our favorite high-yielding dividend stocks for any investor, check out our free report.