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

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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.

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 is more formally known as the Expected Surprise Prediction, and it aims to grab the inside track on the latest analyst estimate revisions ahead of a company's report. The idea is relatively intuitive as a newer projection might be based on more complete information.

The core of the ESP model is comparing the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, where the resulting percentage difference between the two equals the Expected Surprise Prediction. The Zacks Rank is also factored into the ESP metric to better help find companies that appear poised to top their next bottom-line consensus estimate, which will hopefully help lift the stock price.

When we join a positive earnings ESP with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or stronger, stocks posted a positive bottom-line surprise 70% of the time. Plus, this system saw investors produce roughly 28% 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 Costco?

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. Costco (COST - Free Report) holds a #2 (Buy) at the moment and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $3.57 a share 30 days away from its upcoming earnings release on December 14, 2023.

Costco's Earnings ESP sits at +4.26%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $3.57 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.43. COST 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.

COST is part of a big group of Retail and Wholesale stocks that boast a positive ESP, and investors may want to take a look at Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG - Free Report) as well.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, which is readying to report earnings on February 6, 2024, sits at a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) right now. It's Most Accurate Estimate is currently $9.63 a share, and CMG is 84 days out from its next earnings report.

Chipotle Mexican Grill's Earnings ESP figure currently stands at +0.53% after taking the percentage difference between its Most Accurate Estimate and its Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9.58.

COST and CMG'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:


Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) - free report >>

Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) - free report >>

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