Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:
Altria—The tobacco producer earned 69 cents per share for the third quarter, excluding certain items, beating estimates by 1 cent, with revenue essentially in line. Shipment volumes fell, but that was offset by a lower tax rate and lower interest expenses.
ConocoPhillips—The company earned $1.29 per share for the third quarter, beating estimates by 9 cents. Production was up compared to a year ago, and the company said it is on track to meet profit margin and production targets for the full year.
Cardinal Health—The drug distributor beat estimates by 4 cents with adjusted first quarter profit of $1.00 per share, with revenue beating estimates as well. Cardinal's bottom line was helped by new customers, and improved results in China, among other factors.
Mosaic—The fertilizer producer's quarterly profit came in 3 cents below estimates at an adjusted 56 cents per share, with revenue slightly below estimates. Mosaic did register a 63 percent increase in profit over a year earlier as it sold more product at higher prices.
AmerisourceBergen—The pharmaceutical distributor reported an adjusted fourth quarter profit of $1.10 per share, beating estimates by 5 cents. Revenue also beat consensus, helped by significant new business.
Johnson Controls—The maker of automotive components reported fourth quarter adjusted profit of $1.04 per share, 3 cents above estimates, though revenue came in below forecasts. The company said it is pleased with its results in what it considers a challenging macroeconomic environment.
Avon Products—The cosmetics maker earned an adjusted 23 cents per share for the third quarter, six cents above estimates, though revenue came up slightly shy of analyst forecasts. Avon said it saw challenges in the Latin American market, but better results elsewhere, and said it is making progress on its "turnaround journey."
Cigna—The insurance company reported adjusted third quarter profit of $1.95 per share, beating estimates by 13 cents. Revenue was also above consensus and the company raised its full year earnings outlook, driven by strong growth in premiums and fees.
Time Warner Cable—The cable operator missed estimates by 4 cents with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.86 per share, with revenue also below estimates. Time Warner Cable saw a decline in video subscribers compared to a year earlier, as well as a drop in residential voice services revenue.
Visa—The financial services company reported adjusted quarterly profit of $2.18 per share, 8 cents above estimates. Improving consumer confidence helped increase credit card use among customers, and Visa also announced a $5 billion stock buyback.
DreamWorks—DreamWorks beat estimates by 8 cents with quarterly earnings of 14 cents per share, and revenue was also above expectations. The movie studio's results were helped by the success of "How To Train Your Dragon 2".
Microsoft—The company launched a "Microsoft Band" fitness tracking device, available in the U.S. today in limited quantities for $199.
Twitter—Twitter is losing two key executives: Engineering Vice President Jeremy Gordon and Analytics Group head Adam Kinney.
Kraft Foods—Kraft reported adjusted quarterly profit of 77 cents per share, three cents above estimates, though revenue fell slightly below analyst forecasts. The food producer said price increases—instituted to deal with higher input costs—crimped demand for some of its products.
Weight Watchers International—The company beat estimates by 20 cents with adjusted quarterly profit of 68 cents per share, and revenue was strongly above analyst forecasts as well. Profit was still down 37 percent from a year ago as membership rolls fell by 12.5 percent, but the weight-loss company still raised its full-year earnings forecast.
Akamai—The provider of web content delivery services earned an adjusted 62 cents per share for its latest quarter, 5 cents above estimates, and revenue was also above analyst forecasts. Akamai saw strong demand for its media and security offerings.
Shutterfly—The online photo service lost $1.20 per share for its latest quarter, 3 cents wider than expected, while revenue also missed forecasts. But Shutterfly gave an upbeat outlook for the holiday season, saying it expected record order volumes.
Cirrus Logic—The chipmaker reported an adjusted quarterly profit of 68 cents per share, 14 cents above estimates, with the company's revenue also scoring a strong beat. Cirrus also gave a better than expected outlook for the current quarter, in anticipation of strong sales of Apple's latest iPhone models, which contain Cirrus chips.
Baidu— The China-based internet search engine reported a better than expected profit, but lower than expected revenue, for its latest quarter. Baidu still saw revenue jump 52 percent for the quarter, though that marked a slowdown in its rate of expansion. The company has been spending more to acquire users, as well as for marketing.
Level 3 Communications—Level 3 will replace Jabil Circuit in the S&P 500 on November 4, with Jabil moving to the S&P Midcap 400.
Time Inc—The company has initiated a quarterly dividend of 19 cents per share, payable on December 15 to shareholders of record as of November 28.
Honeywell—The conglomerate was sued by the EEOC for penalizing employees who refuse to be tested as part of the company's corporate wellness program.
General Electric—The company is in talks to sell stakes in its South Korean financing businesses, according to the Wall Street Journal. The stakes could be worth more than $1 billion.
DeVry and Apollo Education—These and other for-profit education companies will be on watch today, with the government introducing new, tougher regulations on federal aid. The new rules will put these colleges at risk of losing federal aid if a typical graduate's annual loan repayment exceed 20 percent of discretionary income or eight percent of total earnings. The current thresholds are 30 percent and 12 percent, respectively.
—By CNBC's Peter Schacknow
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