Cramer’s week ahead: Earnings from Home Depot, Alibaba, Walmart

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday guided investors through next week’s market action, telling them to pay attention to a number of earnings reports, including Home Depot, Alibaba and Walmart.

He also suggested remarks from Federal Reserve officials will continue to shape the market, saying investors should tune in on Monday to commentary from Loretta Mester, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

“The more these Fed officials entertain us with their hawkish commentary, as long as they keep us on the edge of their seats, the more likely it is that the Fed can cut rates in the not-too-distant future,” Cramer said. “The more we hear from these hawkish officials, the worse the economy gets, and eventually we all win because the Fed needs a soft economy before it can cut.”

On Tuesday, Cramer will be focusing on quarterly results from Home Depot and said he hopes the retailer will announce some price rollbacks, as consumers want companies that battle inflation. Alibaba also reports that day, and Cramer said if the quarter is good, Wall Street may be more inclined to buy Chinese stocks. After the close of trading that day comes a report from Nextracker, and Cramer said he expects the solar technology company to put up good figures.

The influential consumer price index will be released on Wednesday, and Cramer said he believes it will show weakness. Cisco will report earnings that day, and he said it will be “awkward” if the company doesn’t deliver a positive forecast, as management should be able to talk about the momentum of Splunk, the recently acquired data mining company.

Thursday brings earnings from Walmart, Deere and Applied Materials. Cramer said Walmart’s stock could soar if it announces rollbacks in pricing. He added that Applied Materials could have a solid quarter as its peer Taiwan Semiconductor just released a positive sales report. Cramer will also be paying attention to analyst meetings from Cracker Barrel and Dow.