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Want Better Returns? Don?t Ignore These 2 Retail and Wholesale Stocks Set to Beat Earnings

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Wall Street watches a company's quarterly report closely to understand as much as possible about its recent performance and what to expect going forward. Of course, one figure often stands out among the rest: earnings.

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 Expected Surprise Prediction, or ESP, works by locking in on the most up-to-date analyst earnings revisions because they can be more accurate than estimates from weeks or even months before the actual release date. The thinking is pretty straightforward: analysts who provide earnings estimates closer to the report are likely to have more 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.

In fact, when we combined a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better and a positive Earnings ESP, stocks produced a positive surprise 70% of the time. Perhaps most importantly, using these parameters has helped produce 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 Expedia?

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. Expedia (EXPE - Free Report) holds a #1 (Strong Buy) at the moment and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $3.23 a share 10 days away from its upcoming earnings release on August 8, 2024.

Expedia's Earnings ESP sits at +1.45%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $3.23 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.18. EXPE 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.

EXPE is one of just a large database of Retail and Wholesale stocks with positive ESPs. Another solid-looking stock is Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) .

Amazon, which is readying to report earnings on August 1, 2024, sits at a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) right now. It's Most Accurate Estimate is currently $1.08 a share, and AMZN is three days out from its next earnings report.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Amazon is $1.03, and when you take the percentage difference between that number and its Most Accurate Estimate, you get the Earnings ESP figure of +4.58%.

EXPE and AMZN's positive ESP metrics may signal that a positive earnings surprise for both stocks is on the horizon.

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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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) - free report >>

Expedia Group, Inc. (EXPE) - free report >>

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