Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should You Sell Aqua America (WTR) Before Earnings?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Investors are always looking for stocks that are poised to beat at earnings season and Aqua America, Inc. may be one such company. The firm has earnings coming up pretty soon, and events are shaping up quite nicely for their report.

That is because Aqua Americais seeing favorable earnings estimate revision activity as of late, which is generally a precursor to an earnings beat. After all, analysts raising estimates right before earnings—with the most up-to-date information possible—is a pretty good indicator of some favorable trends underneath the surface for WTR in this report.

In fact, the Most Accurate Estimate for the current quarter is currently at 30 cents per share for WTR, compared to a broader Zacks Consensus Estimate of 29 cents per share. This suggests that analysts have very recently bumped up their estimates for WTR, giving the stock a Zacks Earnings ESP of 3.45% heading into earnings season.

Aqua America, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Aqua America, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | Aqua America, Inc. Quote

Why is this Important?

A positive reading for the Zacks Earnings ESP has proven to be very powerful in producing both positive surprises, and outperforming the market. Our recent 10 year backtest shows that stocks that have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better show a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and have returned over 28% on average in annual returns (see more Top Earnings ESP stocks here).

Given that WTR has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and an ESP in positive territory, investors might want to consider this stock ahead of earnings. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Clearly, recent earnings estimate revisions suggest that good things are ahead for Aqua America, and that a beat might be in the cards for the upcoming report.

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2017

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2017?

Who wouldn't? Last year's market-beating Top 10 portfolio produced 5 double-digit winners. For example, oil and natural gas giant Pioneer Natural Resources and First Republic Bank racked up stellar gains of +44.9% and +44.3% respectively. Now a brand-new list for 2017 has been hand-picked from 4,400 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. See the 2017 Top 10 right now>>

Published in