A number of big-name tech and retail companies are set to report earnings results this week including The Home Depot ( HD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), Hewlett-Packard Company ( HPQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), and Target ( TGT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating). Investors will also be paying close attention to housing starts, which will be released on Tuesday.

Hewlett-Packard is set to report its quarterly results after the bell Tuesday, and analysts polled by Reuters are expecting a profit of $0.85 per share, up from $0.87 per share a year ago, on revenue of $27.4 billion.

Traders playing this stock into earnings should know that it strongly favors a pattern where it follows through with more aggressive next-day regular session trade following an earnings-driven after-hours move. Traders going long should stick with their trade in the regular session if the stock makes a move higher in the pre-market. HP has moved more aggressively in the same direction the next day in 13 of 21 quarters. In the near term, it has added to its evening performance in next-day trade in the last five consecutive quarters.

The Home Depot is due to report first-quarter results before the bell on Tuesday, and analysts are expecting earnings of $0.28 per share, down from $0.41 a year ago, on revenue of $15.9 billion.

In the near-term, Home Depot is trending toward a widening pattern, adding to its extended-hours performance in follow-on regular session trade in all of the last four earnings events. On February 24, the stock gained 5% in the pre-market after its profit topped the Street by four cents a share. The stock widened its pre-market move in the regular session, ending up 10.5%./p>

Cassie Slane is a Senior Editor at www.MidnightTrader.com.