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These 2 Consumer Discretionary Stocks Could Beat Earnings: Why They Should Be on Your Radar

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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.

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, 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.

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 #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 PlayAGS?

The final step today is to look at a stock that meets our ESP qualifications. PlayAGS (AGS - Free Report) earns a #2 (Buy) five days from its next quarterly earnings release on May 9, 2023, and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at -$0.05 a share.

PlayAGS's Earnings ESP sits at +36.17%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the -$0.05 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of -$0.08. AGS 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.

AGS is one of just a large database of Consumer Discretionary stocks with positive ESPs. Another solid-looking stock is Caesars Entertainment (CZR - Free Report) .

Slated to report earnings on August 1, 2023, Caesars Entertainment holds a #3 (Hold) ranking on the Zacks Rank, and it's Most Accurate Estimate is $0.30 a share 89 days from its next quarterly update.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Caesars Entertainment is $0.26, and when you take the percentage difference between that number and its Most Accurate Estimate, you get the Earnings ESP figure of +17.06%.

AGS and CZR'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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Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (CZR) - free report >>

PlayAGS, Inc. (AGS) - free report >>

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