Several top-rated Zacks stocks are standing out after exceeding their first quarter earnings expectations earlier in the week and could certainly move higher.

Even better, their upside potential looks more promising as the Fed dismissed the possibility of rate hikes and added momentum to markets. That said, after blasting EPS estimates on Tuesday, here are three of these intriguing stocks to consider.  

LendingTree TREE

We’ll start with LendingTree which was added to the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) list after posting Q1 earnings of $0.70 per share which crushed the Zacks Consensus of $0.46 a share by 52%. More impressive, Q1 EPS soared 181% from $0.25 a share in the comparative quarter.

Having over 500 financial partners on its personal loan comparison platform, LendingTree is starting to showcase the earnings potential it had before the pandemic and has now exceeded EPS estimates for 14 consecutive quarters. Better still, LendingTree has posted an average earnings surprise of 119.08% in its last four quarterly reports and a P/E ratio of 19.7X looks reasonable considering the increased probability.

The Timken Company TKR

Sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), The Timken Company's P/E valuation is attractive and its earnings outlook has started to strengthen as a global manufacturer of engineered bearings and industrial motion products. Having a wide reach to a variety of end markets including the aerospace and automotive industries, Timken posted Q1 earnings of $1.77 per share which topped estimates by 18% despite dipping from $2.09 a share in a hard-to-follow prior-year quarter.

Marathon Petroleum MPC

As a leading independent refiner, transporter, and marketer of petroleum products, Marathon Petroleum’s stock sports a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Crude oil prices have cooled off after a sharp surge to over $80 a barrel for much of March and April but Marathon appears to be capitalizing with Q1 EPS coming in at $2.78 and 10% better than expected.

Continuing a nice streak, Marathon followed a very competitive prior-year quarter that saw Q1 earnings at a whopping $6.09 per share but has now beaten earnings expectations for 20 consecutive quarters. Plus, Marathon trades at just 9.7X forward earnings with many analysts seeing crude oil prices soaring to over $90 a barrel by the summer.

Bottom Line

LendingTree, The Timken Company, and Marathon Petroleum were winners in this week's earnings lineup. They joined the likes of Amazon AMZN and Apple AAPL in posting impressive bottom line figures making them three of the more intriguing stocks to consider at the moment.

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