It is not surprising that before an earnings season, investors look for stocks that can beat market expectations. This is because investors always try to position themselves ahead of time and look to tap stocks that are high-quality in nature.
We ran a screener that yielded Urban Outfitters URBN, Leidos LDOS, Fortinet FTNT, Affirm AFRM and Zillow Group Class C Z stocksas the likely winners on the earnings beat potential.
Historically, stocks of companies with solid quarterly earnings (on a nominal basis) tank if they miss or merely meet market expectations. After all, a 20% earnings rise (though apparently looks good) doesn’t tell you if earnings growth has been exhibiting a decelerating trend.
Also, seasonal fluctuations come into play sometimes. If a company’s Q1 is seasonally weak and Q4 strong, then it is likely to report a sequential earnings decline. In such cases, growth rates are misleading while judging the true health of a company.
On the other hand, after much brainstorming and analysis of companies’ financials and initiatives, Wall Street analysts project earnings of companies. They in fact club their insights and a company’s guidance when deriving an earnings estimate.
Thus, outperforming that estimate is almost equivalent to beating the company’s own expectation as well as the market perception. And if the margin of earnings surprise is big, it typically drives the stock higher right after the release. Thus, more than anything else, an earnings surprise can push a stock higher.
Now, finding stocks that have the potential to beat on the bottom line may be investors’ dream but not an easy job. One way to do this is to look at the earnings surprise history of the company.
An impressive track in this regard generally acts as a catalyst in sending a stock higher. It indicates the company’s ability to surpass estimates. And investors generally believe that the company will apply the same secret sauce to execute yet another earning beat in its next release.
In order to shortlist stocks that are likely to come up with an earnings surprise, we chose the following as our primary screening parameters.
Last EPS Surprise greater than or equal to 10%: Stocks delivering positive surprise in the last quarter tend to surprise again.
Average EPS Surprise in the last four quarters greater than 20%: We lifted the bar for outperformance slight higher by setting the average earnings surprise for the last four quarters at 20%.
Average EPS Surprise in the last two quarters greater than 20%: This points to a more consistent surprise history and makes the case for another surprise even stronger.
In addition, we place a few other criteria that push up the chance of a positive surprise.
Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2: Only companies with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) rating can get through.
Earnings ESP greater than zero: A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank of #1, 2 or 3 for an earnings beat to happen, as per our proven model.
In order to zero in on those that have long-term growth potential and high trading liquidity we have added the following parameters too:
Next 3–5 Years Estimated EPS Growth (Per Year) greater than 10%: Solid expected earnings growth exhibits the stock’s long-term growth prospects.
Average 20-day Volume greater than 100,000: High trading volume implies that the stocks have adequate liquidity.
A handful of criteria has narrowed down the universe from over 7,700 stocks to only 19.
Here are five out of 19 stocks:
Urban Outfitters: The Zacks Rank #1 company is one of the largest e-commerce providers, with sprawling operations in North America, now spreading across the globe. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The average earnings surprise of URBN for the past four quarters is 22.82%.
Leidos: Delaware-based Leidos Holdings, Inc. is a global science and technology leader that serves the defense, intelligence, civil and health markets. LDOS currently has a Zacks Rank #2.
The average earnings surprise of LDOS for the past four quarters is 29.92%.
Fortinet:The Zacks Rank #1 company Inc. is a provider of network security appliances and Unified Threat Management network security solutions to enterprises, service providers and government entities worldwide.
The average earnings surprise of FTNT for the past four quarters is 24.76%.
Affirm: The financial technology company specializes in payment solutions that provide consumers with flexible, transparent installment loans — both interest-free and interest-bearing — at the point of sale. By partnering with a diverse range of merchants, Affirm enables customers to pay for purchases over time. The company currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.
The average earnings surprise of AFRM for the past four quarters is 84.09%.
Zillow Group Class C: The company offers real estate and home-related brands on mobile and web.Currently, Z carries a Zacks Rank #1.
The average earnings surprise of Z for the past four quarters is 25.47%.
You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.
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Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.
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Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Fortinet, Inc. (FTNT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Zillow Group, Inc. (Z) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Leidos Holdings, Inc. (LDOS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Affirm Holdings, Inc. (AFRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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