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How to Boost Your Portfolio with Top Consumer Discretionary Stocks Set to Beat Earnings

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Quarterly financial reports play a vital role on Wall Street, as they help investors see how a company has performed and what might be coming down the road in the near-term. And out of all of the metrics and results to consider, earnings is one of the most important.

Life and the stock market are both about expectations, and rising above what is expected is often rewarded, while falling short can come with negative consequences. Investors might want to try to capture stronger returns by finding positive earnings surprises.

The ability to identify stocks that are likely to top quarterly earnings expectations can be profitable, but it's no simple task. Here at Zacks, our Earnings ESP filter helps make things easier.

The Zacks Earnings ESP, Explained

The Zacks Earnings ESP is more formally known as the Expected Surprise Prediction, and it aims to grab the inside track on the latest analyst estimate revisions ahead of a company's report. The idea is relatively intuitive as a newer projection might be based on more complete information.

The core of the ESP model is comparing the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, where the resulting percentage difference between the two equals the Expected Surprise Prediction. The Zacks Rank is also factored into the ESP metric to better help find companies that appear poised to top their next bottom-line consensus estimate, which will hopefully help lift the stock price.

Bringing together a positive earnings ESP alongside a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better has helped stocks report a positive earnings surprise 70% of the time. Furthermore, by using these parameters, investors have seen 28.3% annual returns on average, according to our 10 year backtest.

Stocks with a ranking of #3 (Hold), or 60% of all stocks covered by the Zacks Rank, are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. Stocks with rankings of #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy), or the top 15% and top 5% of stocks, respectively, should outperform the market; Strong Buy stocks should outperform more than any other rank.

Should You Consider Playa Hotels & Resorts?

The final step today is to look at a stock that meets our ESP qualifications. Playa Hotels & Resorts (PLYA - Free Report) earns a #1 (Strong Buy) six days from its next quarterly earnings release on May 4, 2023, and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $0.43 a share.

Playa Hotels & Resorts' Earnings ESP sits at +40.22%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $0.43 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.31. PLYA is also part of a large group of stocks that boast a positive ESP. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

PLYA is just one of a large group of Consumer Discretionary stocks with a positive ESP figure. Crocs (CROX - Free Report) is another qualifying stock you may want to consider.

Crocs, which is readying to report earnings on August 3, 2023, sits at a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) right now. It's Most Accurate Estimate is currently $3.38 a share, and CROX is 97 days out from its next earnings report.

For Crocs, the percentage difference between its Most Accurate Estimate and its Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.27 is +3.62%.

PLYA and CROX's positive ESP figures tell us that both stocks have a good chance at beating analyst expectations in their next earnings report.

Find Stocks to Buy or Sell Before They're Reported

Use the Zacks Earnings ESP Filter to turn up stocks with the highest probability of positively, or negatively, surprising to buy or sell before they're reported for profitable earnings season trading. Check it out here >>


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


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Crocs, Inc. (CROX) - free report >>

Playa Hotels & Resorts N.V. (PLYA) - free report >>

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