For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – July 20, 2026 – Stocks in this week’s article are PENN Entertainment Inc. PENN, Boise Cascade BCC, Dycom Industries DY, Silicon Motion Technology SIMO and Unity Software U.
Looking for Earnings Beats? Buy These 5 Top-Ranked Stocks
It 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 PENN Entertainment Inc., Boise Cascade, Dycom Industries, Silicon Motion Technology and Unity Software 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 when 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 the 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 to execute yet another earnings beat in its next release.
Here are five out of 13 stocks:
PENN Entertainment: The Zacks Rank #1 company adopted its current name in 1994 when it became publicly traded. PENN Entertainment is a multi-jurisdictional owner and operator of gaming and racing facilities with video gaming terminal operations and a focus on slot machine entertainment. The company's portfolio is geographically diverse and includes a broad set of regional properties. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The average earnings surprise of PENN for the past four quarters is 120.11%.
Boise Cascade:The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company is one of the largest wood products manufacturers and a leading U.S. wholesale distributor of building products, headquartered in Boise, ID.
The average earnings surprise of BCC for the past four quarters is 40.83%.
Dycom Industries: The Zacks Rank #1 company is a specialty contracting firm operating in the telecom industry.
The average earnings surprise of DY for the past four quarters is 24.96%.
Silicon Motion Technology: Silicon Motion Technology Corporation is a leading developer of microcontroller ICs for NAND flash storage devices. The stock has a Zacks Rank #1.
The average earnings surprise of SIMO for the past four quarters is 18.61%.
Unity Software: The company provides a platform to develop, deploy and grow games and interactive 3D experiences across mobile, PC, console and extended reality.The stock has a Zacks Rank #1.
The average earnings surprise of U for the past four quarters is 7.37%.
For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2955556/looking-for-earnings-beat-buy-these-5-top-ranked-stocks
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.
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Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (SIMO): Free Stock Analysis Report
PENN Entertainment, Inc. (PENN): Free Stock Analysis Report
Dycom Industries, Inc. (DY): Free Stock Analysis Report
Boise Cascade, L.L.C. (BCC): Free Stock Analysis Report
Unity Software Inc. (U): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).