Investors often view consistent earnings growth as a sign of a company’s financial strength. However, an even stronger signal is earnings acceleration, which can be a key driver of stock price gains. Research suggests that many of the top-performing stocks exhibit accelerating earnings before their share prices begin a sustained upward movement.
With that in mind, Jabil Inc. JBL, CECO Environmental Corp. CECO and Klarna Group plc KLAR are demonstrating strong earnings acceleration and are worth buying in the second half of 2026.
What Is Earnings Acceleration? A Guide for Investors
Earnings acceleration refers to the incremental growth in a company’s earnings per share (EPS). Put simply, if a company’s quarter-over-quarter earnings growth rate increases over a given period, it can be called earnings acceleration.
In the case of earnings growth, you pay for something that is already reflected in the stock price. However, earnings acceleration helps identify stocks that haven’t yet caught investors’ attention and, once secured, will invariably lead to a rally in share price. This is because earnings acceleration considers both the direction and magnitude of growth rates.
An increasing percentage of earnings growth means that the company is fundamentally sound and has been on the right track for a considerable period. Meanwhile, a sideways percentage of earnings growth indicates a period of consolidation or slowdown, while a decelerating percentage of earnings growth may drag prices down.
Research Wizard: Your Shortcut to Finding Winning Stocks
Look at stocks for which the last two quarter-over-quarter percentage EPS growth rates exceed the previous periods’ growth rates. The projected EPS growth rate for the upcoming quarter is expected to exceed that of prior periods.
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 low-priced stocks.
Average 20-day volume greater than or equal to 50,000: High trading volume implies that the stocks have adequate liquidity.
The above criteria narrowed the universe of around 7,735 stocks to only three. Here are the stocks:
Jabil
Jabil is a global provider of engineering, manufacturing and supply-chain solutions, serving customers across a wide range of industries worldwide. Jabil has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). JBL’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 30.1%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
CECO Environmental
CECO Environmental provides industrial air quality, water treatment and energy transition solutions through its Engineered Systems and Industrial Process Solutions segments. CECO Environmental has a Zacks Rank #1. CECO’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 120.2%.
Klarna Group
Klarna Group is a digital bank and flexible payments provider serving customers across multiple global markets. Klarna Group has a Zacks Rank #1. KLAR’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 105.1%.
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Jabil, Inc. (JBL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).