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Why Investors Need to Take Advantage of These 2 Retail and Wholesale Stocks Now

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Quarterly financial reports play a vital role on Wall Street, as they help investors see how a company has performed and what might be coming down the road in the near-term. And out of all of the metrics and results to consider, earnings is one of the most important.

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 Expected Surprise Prediction, or ESP, works by locking in on the most up-to-date analyst earnings revisions because they can be more accurate than estimates from weeks or even months before the actual release date. The thinking is pretty straightforward: analysts who provide earnings estimates closer to the report are likely to have more 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.

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 #3 (Hold) ranking, which is most stocks covered at 60%, are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. But stocks that fall into the #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy) ranking, 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 CarMax?

The final step today is to look at a stock that meets our ESP qualifications. CarMax (KMX - Free Report) earns a #3 (Hold) 29 days from its next quarterly earnings release on April 9, 2024, and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $0.50 a share.

By taking the percentage difference between the $0.50 Most Accurate Estimate and the $0.45 Zacks Consensus Estimate, CarMax has an Earnings ESP of +11.42%. Investors should also know that KMX is one of a large group 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.

KMX is one of just a large database of Retail and Wholesale stocks with positive ESPs. Another solid-looking stock is TJX (TJX - Free Report) .

TJX, which is readying to report earnings on May 15, 2024, sits at a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) right now. It's Most Accurate Estimate is currently $0.87 a share, and TJX is 65 days out from its next earnings report.

TJX's Earnings ESP figure currently stands at +0.13% after taking the percentage difference between its Most Accurate Estimate and its Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.86.

Because both stocks hold a positive Earnings ESP, KMX and TJX 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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The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX) - free report >>

CarMax, Inc. (KMX) - free report >>

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