Earnings are arguably the most important single number on a company’s quarterly financial report. Wall Street clearly dives into all of the other metrics and management’s input, but the EPS figure helps cut through all the noise.
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, or Expected Surprise Prediction, aims to find earnings surprises by focusing on the most recent analyst revisions. The basic premise is that if an analyst reevaluates their earnings estimate ahead of an earnings release, it means they likely have new information that could possibly be more accurate.
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.
Most stocks, about 60%, fall into the #3 (Hold) category, and they are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. Stocks with a #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy) rating, or the top 15% and top 5% of stocks, respectively, should outperform the market, with Strong Buy stocks outperforming more than any other rank.
Should You Consider Zillow?
The final step today is to look at a stock that meets our ESP qualifications. Zillow (Z – Free Report) earns a #2 (Buy) five days from its next quarterly earnings release on February 11, 2025, and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $0.34 a share.
By taking the percentage difference between the $0.34 Most Accurate Estimate and the $0.29 Zacks Consensus Estimate, Zillow has an Earnings ESP of +15.52%. Investors should also know that Z 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.
Z is just one of a large group of Finance stocks with a positive ESP figure. Palomar (PLMR – Free Report) is another qualifying stock you may want to consider.
Palomar is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, and is getting ready to report earnings on February 12, 2025. PLMR’s Most Accurate Estimate sits at $1.24 a share six days from its next earnings release.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Palomar is $1.24, and when you take the percentage difference between that number and its Most Accurate Estimate, you get the Earnings ESP figure of +0.27%.
Z and PLMR’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 >>
Financial Market Newsflash
No financial news published today. Check back later.
