How to Boost Your Portfolio with Top Computer and Technology Stocks Set to Beat Earnings

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.

When we join a positive earnings ESP with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or stronger, stocks posted a positive bottom-line surprise 70% of the time. Plus, this system saw investors produce roughly 28% 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 nVent Electric?

The final step today is to look at a stock that meets our ESP qualifications. nVent Electric NVT earns a #2 (Buy) four days from its next quarterly earnings release on July 26, 2024, and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $0.83 a share.

NVT has an Earnings ESP figure of +0.51%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $0.83 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.82. nVent Electric is one of a large database of stocks with positive ESPs.

NVT is one of just a large database of Computer and Technology stocks with positive ESPs. Another solid-looking stock is Micron MU.

Micron, which is readying to report earnings on September 25, 2024, sits at a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) right now. It's Most Accurate Estimate is currently $1.10 a share, and MU is 65 days out from its next earnings report.

Micron's Earnings ESP figure currently stands at +2.63% after taking the percentage difference between its Most Accurate Estimate and its Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.08.

NVT and MU's positive ESP figures tell us that both stocks have a good chance at beating analyst expectations in their next earnings report.

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