3 Intriguing Internet-Software Stocks to Buy as Earnings Approach

WDAY SNOW CRWD

Several stocks among the top-rated Zacks Internet-Software Industry will highlight this week’s earnings lineup. Currently in the top 13% of over 250 Zacks industries, these Zacks Internet-Software Industry stocks are expected to post stellar quarterly growth as easing inflation continues to bode well for the broader technology sector.

Including dividends, the total return of the Zacks Internet-Software Industry is +55% this year to impressively top the S&P 500’s +20% and even edge the Nasdaq’s +36%. This has led to much anticipation in regard to the quarterly results from the key players within the industry and here are three to consider as earnings approach.  

CrowdStrike CRWD: Reporting third quarter results on Tuesday, November 28, CrowdStrike’s stock has soared +102% in 2023 which has largely contributed to the strong performance of the Zacks Internet-Software Industry. After going public in 2019, demand for CrowdStrike’s next-generation endpoint protection, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services appears to be reaching new heights.

CrowdStrike’s blazing performance could continue as Q3 earnings are expected to soar 85% to $0.74 per share compared to $0.40 a share in the prior-year quarter. Third quarter sales are forecasted at $777.18 million and up 34% from $580.88 million a year ago. Even better, CrowdStrike has surpassed earnings expectations for 11 consecutive quarters and has posted an average earnings surprise of 20.11% in its last four quarterly reports.

Workday WDAY: Also reporting its Q3 results on Tuesday, Workday’s stock is intriguing as a provider of financial management and human resources software to enterprises.

Traded publicly since 2012, Workday’s stock is up +41% YTD with Q3 earnings forecasted to climb 41% to $1.40 per share versus $0.99 a share in the prior-year quarter. Plus, Q3 sales are projected to be up 15% year over year to $1.84 billion. Workday has surpassed earnings expectations for five consecutive quarters and has posted an average earnings surprise of 15.38% in its last four quarterly reports.

Snowflake SNOW: Rounding out the list, Snowflake will be a stock to watch ahead of its Q3 report on Wednesday, November 29. More recently going public in 2020, Snowflake is a data cloud company that develops database architecture and data warehouses among other data collaborations and engineering tasks.

Snowflake’s stock has risen a respectable +18% this year with Q3 earnings expected to be up 45% to $0.16 a share compared to $0.11 per share a year ago. Quarterly sales projections of $710.54 million would be a 27% increase from $557.03 million in the prior year quarter.

More intriguing, the Zacks ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) indicates Snowflake may be able to easily surpass earnings expectations with the Most Accurate Estimate having Q3 EPS at $0.26 per share and 67% above the Zacks Consensus. To that point, Snowflake has surpassed earnings expectations for nine consecutive quarters and has posted an outstanding average earnings surprise of 244.45% in its last four quarterly reports.

Bottom Line

The growth and expansion of CrowdStrike, Workday, and Snowflake is very intriguing at the moment with all three stocks landing a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) ahead of their quarterly results. With stellar quarterly growth expected it is quite possible that their strong price performances could continue this year especially if their reports are accompanied by positive guidance.

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