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How to Find Strong Transportation Stocks Slated for Positive Earnings Surprises

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Earnings are arguably the most important single number on a company's quarterly financial report. Wall Street clearly dives into all of the other metrics and management's input, but the EPS figure helps cut through all the noise.

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.

Hunting for 'earnings whispers' or companies poised to beat their quarterly earnings estimates is a somewhat common practice. But that doesn't make it easy. One way that has been proven to work is by using the Zacks Earnings ESP tool.

The Zacks Earnings ESP, Explained

The Zacks Earnings ESP, or Expected Surprise Prediction, aims to find earnings surprises by focusing on the most recent analyst revisions. The basic premise is that if an analyst reevaluates their earnings estimate ahead of an earnings release, it means they likely have new information that could possibly be more accurate.

Now that we understand the basic idea, let's look at how the Expected Surprise Prediction works. The ESP is calculated by comparing the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, with the percentage difference between the two giving us the Zacks ESP figure.

When we join a positive earnings ESP with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or stronger, stocks posted a positive bottom-line surprise 70% of the time. Plus, this system saw investors produce roughly 28% annual returns on average, according to our 10 year backtest.

Stocks with a #3 (Hold) ranking, which is most stocks covered at 60%, are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. But stocks that fall into the #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy) ranking, 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 Ryder?

The last thing we will do today, now that we have a grasp on the ESP and how powerful of a tool it can be, is to quickly look at a qualifying stock. Ryder (R - Free Report) holds a #1 (Strong Buy) at the moment and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $3.56 a share 12 days away from its upcoming earnings release on October 25, 2023.

By taking the percentage difference between the $3.56 Most Accurate Estimate and the $3.38 Zacks Consensus Estimate, Ryder has an Earnings ESP of +5.48%. Investors should also know that R is one of a large group of stocks with positive ESPs. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

R is one of just a large database of Transportation stocks with positive ESPs. Another solid-looking stock is FedEx (FDX - Free Report) .

FedEx is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, and is getting ready to report earnings on December 19, 2023. FDX's Most Accurate Estimate sits at $4.14 a share 67 days from its next earnings release.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FedEx is $4.07, and when you take the percentage difference between that number and its Most Accurate Estimate, you get the Earnings ESP figure of +1.59%.

R and FDX'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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Ryder System, Inc. (R) - free report >>

FedEx Corporation (FDX) - free report >>

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