Zacks.com featured highlights Urban Outfitters, Deckers Outdoor, BILL, The Travelers Companies and Stride

For Immediate ReleaseChicago, IL – December 20, 2024 – Stocks in this week’s article are Urban Outfitters URBN, Deckers Outdoor DECK, BILL Holdings, Inc. BILL, The Travelers Companies TRV and Stride LRN.Looking for Earnings Beats? Buy These 5 Top-Ranked StocksIt is not surprising that before an earnings season, every investor looks for stocks that can beat market expectations. This is because investors always try to position themselves ahead of time and look to tap stocks that are high quality in nature.In this regard, we ran a screener that yielded stocks Urban Outfitters, Deckers Outdoor, BILL Holdings, Inc., The Travelers Companies and Stride as the likely winners on the earnings beat potential.Why Is a Positive Earnings Surprise So Important?Historically, stocks of companies with solid quarterly earnings (on a nominal basis) tank if they miss or merely meet market expectations. After all, a 20% earnings rise (though apparently looks good) doesn’t tell you if earnings growth has been exhibiting a decelerating trend.Also, seasonal fluctuations come into play sometimes. If a company’s Q1 is seasonally weak and Q4 strong, then it is likely to report a sequential earnings decline. In such cases, growth rates are misleading while judging the true health of a company.On the other hand, after much brainstorming and analysis of companies’ financials and initiatives, Wall Street analysts project earnings of companies. They in fact club their insights and a company’s guidance when deriving an earnings estimate.Thus, outperforming that estimate is almost equivalent to beating the company’s own expectation as well as the market perception. And if the margin of earnings surprise is big, it typically drives the stock higher right after the release. Thus, more than anything else, an earnings surprise can push a stock higher.How to Find Stocks that Can Beat?Now, finding stocks that have the potential to beat on the bottom line may be investors’ dream but not an easy job. One way to do this is to look at the earnings surprise history of the company.An impressive track in this regard generally acts as a catalyst in sending a stock higher. It indicates the company’s ability to surpass estimates. And investors generally believe that the company will apply the same secret sauce to execute yet another earning beat in its next release.Here are five out of 13 stocks:Urban Outfitters: The Zacks Rank #1 company is a lifestyle specialty retailer offering fashion apparel and accessories, footwear, home décor and gifts products. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.The average earnings surprise of URBN for the past four quarters is 22.82%.Deckers Outdoor: Deckers Outdoor Corporation is a leading designer, producer and brand manager of innovative, niche footwear and accessories developed for outdoor sports and other lifestyle-related activities. The DECK stock has a Zacks Rank #1.The average earnings surprise of DECK for the past four quarters is 41.08%.BILL Holdings: The Zacks Rank #2 company primarily caters to small and medium businesses (SMBs) with its AI-enabled financial software platform that connects customers with their suppliers and clients.The average earnings surprise of BILL for the past four quarters is 29.84%.The Travelers Companies: The Travelers Companies Inc., a holding company, is principally engaged, through its subsidiaries, in providing a wide variety of property and casualty insurance and surety products and services to businesses, organizations and individuals in the United States. and select international markets.The stock has a Zacks Rank #2.The average earnings surprise of TRV for the past four quarters is 25.40%.Stride: Stride is a premier provider of K-12 education for students, schools and districts, including career learning services through the middle and high school curriculum.The stock has a Zacks Rank #1.The average earnings surprise of LRN for the past four quarters is 100.75%.You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2385666/looking-for-earnings-beat-buy-these-5-top-ranked-stocks?art_rec=quote-stock_overview-zacks_news-ID02-txt-2385666Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.Contact: Jim GiaquintoCompany: Zacks.comPhone: 312-265-9268Email: pr@zacks.comVisit: https://www.zacks.com/Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.Zacks Names #1 Semiconductor StockIt's only 1/9,000th the size of NVIDIA which skyrocketed more than +800% since we recommended it. NVIDIA is still strong, but our new top chip stock has much more room to boom.With strong earnings growth and an expanding customer base, it's positioned to feed the rampant demand for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things. Global semiconductor manufacturing is projected to explode from $452 billion in 2021 to $803 billion by 2028.See This Stock Now for Free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV): Free Stock Analysis Report Deckers Outdoor Corporation (DECK): Free Stock Analysis Report Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN): Free Stock Analysis Report Stride, Inc. (LRN): Free Stock Analysis Report BILL Holdings, Inc. (BILL): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks