Back to top

Image: Bigstock

How to Boost Your Portfolio with Top Retail and Wholesale Stocks Set to Beat Earnings

Read MoreHide Full Article

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.

Life and the stock market are both about expectations, and rising above what is expected is often rewarded, while falling short can come with negative consequences. Investors might want to try to capture stronger returns by finding positive earnings surprises.

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.

With this in mind, the Expected Surprise Prediction compares the Most Accurate Estimate (being the most recent) against the overall Zacks Consensus Estimate. The percentage difference provides the ESP figure. The system also utilizes our core Zacks Rank to provide a stronger system for identifying stocks that might beat their next quarterly earnings estimate and possibly see the stock price climb.

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 ranking of #3 (Hold), or 60% of all stocks covered by the Zacks Rank, are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. Stocks with rankings of #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy), 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 Starbucks?

The last thing we will do today, now that we have a grasp on the ESP and how powerful of a tool it can be, is to quickly look at a qualifying stock. Starbucks (SBUX - Free Report) holds a #3 (Hold) at the moment and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $0.78 a share three days away from its upcoming earnings release on February 2, 2023.

Starbucks' Earnings ESP sits at +1.63%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $0.78 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.77. SBUX 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.

SBUX is just one of a large group of Retail and Wholesale stocks with a positive ESP figure. Booking Holdings (BKNG - Free Report) is another qualifying stock you may want to consider.

Booking Holdings, which is readying to report earnings on February 22, 2023, sits at a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) right now. It's Most Accurate Estimate is currently $20.76 a share, and BKNG is 23 days out from its next earnings report.

Booking Holdings' Earnings ESP figure currently stands at +0.83% after taking the percentage difference between its Most Accurate Estimate and its Zacks Consensus Estimate of $20.59.

SBUX and BKNG'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


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Starbucks Corporation (SBUX) - free report >>

Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) - free report >>

Published in