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Why Investors Need to Take Advantage of These 2 Consumer Discretionary Stocks Now

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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.

The ability to identify stocks that are likely to top quarterly earnings expectations can be profitable, but it's no simple task. Here at Zacks, our Earnings ESP filter helps make things easier.

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.

Now that we understand the basic idea, let's look at how the Expected Surprise Prediction works. The ESP is calculated by comparing the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, with the percentage difference between the two giving us the Zacks ESP figure.

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 Netflix?

The final step today is to look at a stock that meets our ESP qualifications. Netflix (NFLX - Free Report) earns a #3 (Hold) 29 days from its next quarterly earnings release on January 23, 2024, and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $2.32 a share.

NFLX has an Earnings ESP figure of +5.75%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $2.32 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.19. Netflix is one of a large database of stocks with positive ESPs. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

NFLX is just one of a large group of Consumer Discretionary stocks with a positive ESP figure. Carnival (CCL - Free Report) is another qualifying stock you may want to consider.

Carnival is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock, and is getting ready to report earnings on March 25, 2024. CCL's Most Accurate Estimate sits at -$0.12 a share 91 days from its next earnings release.

Carnival's Earnings ESP figure currently stands at +8.41% after taking the percentage difference between its Most Accurate Estimate and its Zacks Consensus Estimate of -$0.14.

Because both stocks hold a positive Earnings ESP, NFLX and CCL could potentially post earnings beats in their next reports.

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


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Carnival Corporation (CCL) - free report >>

Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) - free report >>

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