It s too early to get excited about fourth-quarter earnings, but so far the news is mostly good. Fewer than one-quarter of S&P 500 companies have reported results, but among ones that have, more have topped estimates than have missed them.

That s fortunate, because investors seem finicky. Intel (INTC) easily topped fourth-quarter sales and earnings forecasts when it reported results on Jan. 15, and the company said first-quarter sales were off to a good start, but its stock nonetheless lost more than 3% by day s end. Meanwhile, earnings forecasts for S&P 500 companies have rarely seemed more ambitious. Just a year ago, index members collectively lost money during the fourth quarter. A year from now, according to published estimates, they ll produce profits nearly as large as those from bubbly 2006.

For the three companies below, which will report earnings in coming weeks, there s a promising sign. Earnings estimates for all three have risen recently, which means that either the companies have hinted about healthy performance or analysts see something they like.

Panera Bread

Quarterly Report Date: Feb. 11

Panera Bread used to be Au Bon Pain, sort of. Just over a decade ago, Au Bon Pain sold its namesake chain of mall coffee shops to private investors and changed its name to Panera Bread, with the goal of expanding a cluster of St. Louis cafes into a national chain. Today, there are more than 1,300 owned and franchised Panera Bread shops, selling soup, sandwiches, salads and of course bread. Like Chiptole Mexican Grill, Panera is a fast casual restaurant, meaning the food is a step up from fast food and the prices are lower than those of casual dining chains. That seems to be a good fit for consumers right now; on Jan. 20, the company said sales at longstanding company-owned stores jumped 7.4% in the fourth quarter and that earnings per share will likely come in more than 10% ahead of the consensus estimate.

IMAX

Quarterly Report Date: March 11

A year ago, Ontario s Imax lost 79 cents a share in its fourth quarter. A month ago, it was expected to report six cents in earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2009. Now Wall Street forecasts nine cents a share. The difference is largely owed to Avatar, a half-animated shoot- em-up in which the aliens are mostly good guys and the humans mostly aren t. It s on pace to overtake Titanic as the highest-grossing movie ever. Remarkably, 7% of showings have been in Imax s giant-screen format, even though fewer than 2% of screens world-wide use the format. Sales for Imax are estimated to have climbed 53% last year. A further 15% increase is forecast this year.

Tyco

Quarterly Report Date: Jan. 28

Tyco sells security and fire protection systems, water control devices and electrical products. Last week, the company announced results for its recently ended fiscal first quarter will top expectations on a rise in prices, but not necessarily volumes. Also last week, the firm said it would buy Broadview Security (CFL), which sells residential alarm systems, for $2 billion, most of it in stock. The deal will boost Tyco s market share from the 22% now held by its ADT division to 26%. In a Jan. 20 note to clients, Nicholas Heymann, who covers the stock for investment bank Sterne Agee, wrote that Broadview should produce $200 million a year in free cash, which Tyco can use to repurchase shares in order to reverse the dilutive effect of the acquisition.