Penumbra, Inc. (PEN Quick QuotePEN - Free Report) , a global interventional therapies company that went public on Sep 17 2015, is expected to report its second-quarter 2016 financial numbers on Aug 9, after the closing bell.

Last quarter, the company had delivered a stunning positive earnings surprise of 128.57% with trailing 3-quarter earnings beat coming at 133.6%. Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Factors at Play

We are impressed to observe that Penumbra is an active player in the fast-growing interventional therapies space. In fact, the company’s products mainly cater to the unmet clinical needs across two major markets, viz. neuro and peripheral vascular.

The steadily increasing demand for treatment options in the heart diseases market reflects the high growth potential for the company in this category. Lucrative growth opportunities exist in the ischemic stroke market as well as in more established markets like hemorrhagic stroke and peripheral vascular. Consequently, Penumbra’s strategy to focus on impactful product development across a varied portfolio will justify investors’ confidence in the stock.

It is worth mentioning that the company with its neuro product line is gaining growth momentum. Within ischemic stroke, the focus remains on the market development efforts, to ensure that patients that can be treated with mechanical thrombectomy get admitted to the right hospital. The neuro growth opportunities beyond ischemic stroke are also promising.

The company’s smart coil within neurovascular embolization was introduced to a sizeable number of physicians in the last quarter. The expanded adoption of Apollo, its neurosurgical tool is also encouraging. Consistent with this, we expect a good show from neuro even in the to-be-reported quarter.

Within peripheral vascular, post the launch of lantern micro catheter, POD packing coil and Indigo system within peripheral thrombectomy, the company is looking forward to achieve another quarter of progress.

Moreover, no interest bearing debt as yet in the company’s balance sheet makes the stock an attractive pick for investors.

However, the initial upward momentum that was seen in mechanical thrombectomy procedures in the ischemic stroke market post the MR CLEAN trial, may progressively stabilize.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Penumbra is likely to beat bottom-line estimates in the second quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP:  Penumbra has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. That is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at a loss of 8 cents.

Zacks Rank: Penumbra has a Zacks Rank #3, which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, a 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.

We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Alliqua BioMedical, Inc. , has an Earnings ESP of +4.17% and a Zacks Rank #3.

ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ANIP Quick QuoteANIP - Free Report) , has an Earnings ESP of +2.63% and a Zacks Rank #1.

Medtronic plc (MDT Quick QuoteMDT - Free Report) , has an Earnings ESP of +1.98% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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