Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Natural Disasters Likely to Hurt Eaton's (ETN) Q3 Earnings

Read MoreHide Full Article

Eaton Corporation (ETN - Free Report) is slated to report third-quarter 2017 financial results before the market opens on Oct 31. The power management company delivered a negative earnings surprise of 0.86% in the last quarter. Let’s see how things are shaping up for this earnings season.

Factors to Consider

Eaton expects hurricanes Maria, Irma and Harvey, as well as the earthquake in Mexico City to have an adverse impact of 3 cents on its projected earnings per share guidance of $1.20 to $1.30.

The natural calamities will no doubt have a short-term effect on Eaton’s performance. However, the company expects improvement in the end-market conditions to increase its organic revenues by 2.5% to 3.5% in the third quarter from the year-ago period. Eaton’s restructuring initiatives are also likely to have a positive impact on its margins.

Electric Products segment is a major contributor to Eaton’s total revenues. The Zacks Consensus Estimate projects this segment to contribute nearly 35.6% of total revenues in the third quarter, which is better than last-year quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for total revenues of $5,111 million in the third quarter reflects a 0.4% drop sequentially, primarily due to lower contribution expectation from its Vehicle segment.

Eaton Corporation, PLC Price and EPS Surprise

 

Eaton Corporation, PLC Price and EPS Surprise | Eaton Corporation, PLC Quote

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Eaton is likely to beat earnings this quarter as it does not possess the key components. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. However, that is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: The company’s Earnings ESP is -0.34%.

You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Eaton’s Zacks Rank #3, when combined with a negative Earnings ESP makes a beat unlikely this quarter.

Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revisions momentum.

Stocks With Favorable Combination

One can consider a few other companies from the Zacks Industrial Products Sector that have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter.

Deere & Company (DE - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.71% and a Zacks Rank #3. It is expected to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2017 earnings on Nov 22. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Barnes Group (B - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.08% and a Zacks Rank #1. It is expected to report third-quarter earnings on Oct 27.

Terex Corporation (TEX - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +3.17% and a Zacks Rank #2. It is expected to report third-quarter earnings on Nov 1.

Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside?

Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana.

Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look.

See the pot trades we're targeting>>

Published in