As we are in the thick of the earnings season, investors should look for stocks that are ready to make a big move. Consistent earnings growth enthralls almost everyone, right from the top brass to research analysts. Upbeat earnings results are more often than not followed by an uptick in the share price.
But earnings acceleration works even better in boosting the stock price. Studies have shown that majority of successful stocks see acceleration in earnings before a positive stock price movement.
Future Outperformers
Basically, earnings acceleration is the incremental growth in earnings of a company. In other words, if the rate of a company’s quarter-over-quarter earnings growth increases within a stipulated frame of time, it can be referred to as earnings acceleration.
In case of earnings growth, you pay for something that is already reflected in the stock price. But, earnings acceleration helps spot stocks that haven’t caught the attention of investors yet, which once secured will invariably lead to a rally in the share price. This is because earnings acceleration considers both direction and magnitude of growth rates.
Increasing percentage of earnings growth means that the company is fundamentally sound and has been on the right track for a considerable period of time. On the other hand, a sideways percentage of earnings growth indicates a period of consolidation or slowdown, while a decelerating percentage of earnings growth may at times drag prices down.
This is the reason why earnings acceleration should be viewed as a key metric for share price outperformance.
The Winning Strategy
Let’s look at stocks for which the last two quarter-over-quarter percentage EPS growth rates exceed the growth rates of the previous periods. The projected quarter-over-quarter percentage EPS growth rates are also expected to be higher than the previous periods’ growth rates.
EPS % Projected Growth (Q1)/(Q0) greater than EPS % Growth (Q0)/(Q-1): The projected growth rate for the current quarter (Q1) over the completed quarter (Q0) has to be greater than the growth rate from the completed quarter (Q0) over one quarter ago (Q-1).
EPS % Growth (Q0)/(Q-1) greater than EPS % Growth (Q-1)/(Q-2): The growth rate for the completed quarter (Q0) over one quarter ago (Q-1) has to be greater than the growth rate from one quarter ago (Q-1) over two quarters ago (Q-2).
EPS % Growth (Q-1)/(Q-2) greater than EPS % Growth (Q-2)/(Q-3): The growth rate from one quarter ago (Q-1) over two quarters ago (Q-2) has to be greater than the growth rate from two quarters ago (Q-2) over three quarters ago (Q-3).
In addition to this, we have added the following parameters:
Current Price greater than or equal to $5: This screens out the low-priced stocks.
Average 20-day volume greater than or equal to 50,000: High trading volume implies that the stocks have adequate liquidity.
Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2 (Only Zacks' 'Buys' and 'Strong Buys' are allowed. With the Zacks Rank proving itself to be one of the best rating systems out there, this is a great way to start things off.)
The above criteria narrowed down the universe of around 7,735 stocks to only 19. Here are the top four stocks.
PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) owns and operates the U.S.-style membership shopping warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean. PriceSmart holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company’s expected growth rate for the next quarter and the current year are 17.7% and 7.4%, respectively.
QEP Resources (NYSE:QEP) operates as a natural gas and crude oil exploration and production company in the United States. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2. The stocks projected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 60% and 59.1%, respectively.
BofI Holding (NASDAQ:BOFI) operates as the holding company for BofI Federal Bank that provides consumer and business banking products in the United States. BofI Holding flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company’s expected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 31.8% and almost 21%, respectively. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Pinnacle Financial Partners (NASDAQ:PNFP) operates as a bank holding company for Pinnacle Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. Pinnacle Financial Partners has a Zacks Rank #2. The company’s projected growth rate for the current quarter and year are 31.3% and 38.1%, respectively.
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Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance
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Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (PNFP): Free Stock Analysis Report
BofI Holding, Inc. (BOFI): Free Stock Analysis Report
QEP Resources, Inc. (QEP): Free Stock Analysis Report
PriceSmart, Inc. (PSMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
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