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How to Boost Your Portfolio with Top Oils and Energy Stocks Set to Beat Earnings

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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.

The earnings figure itself is key, of course, but a beat or miss on the bottom line can sometimes be just as, if not more, important. Therefore, investors should consider paying close attention to these earnings surprises, as a big beat can help a stock climb and vice versa.

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 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 #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 Marathon Oil?

The final step today is to look at a stock that meets our ESP qualifications. Marathon Oil (MRO - Free Report) earns a #3 (Hold) one day from its next quarterly earnings release on February 15, 2023, and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $0.83 a share.

By taking the percentage difference between the $0.83 Most Accurate Estimate and the $0.80 Zacks Consensus Estimate, Marathon Oil has an Earnings ESP of +3.28%. Investors should also know that MRO 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.

MRO is one of just a large database of Oils and Energy stocks with positive ESPs. Another solid-looking stock is FuelCell Energy (FCEL - Free Report) .

FuelCell Energy is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock, and is getting ready to report earnings on March 9, 2023. FCEL's Most Accurate Estimate sits at -$0.07 a share 23 days from its next earnings release.

FuelCell Energy's Earnings ESP figure currently stands at +2.78% after taking the percentage difference between its Most Accurate Estimate and its Zacks Consensus Estimate of -$0.07.

MRO and FCEL'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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Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO) - free report >>

FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCEL) - free report >>

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