I went out on a limb last week and came out with mixed results.
- I predicted that shares of Zipcar
would rise on Tuesday. The country's leading car-sharing service has been up on blocks in recent weeks, and I figured a strong report would get Zipcar back on the road again. Alas, it wasn't to be. Zipcar's stock tumbled 14% after the company posted mixed quarterly results. I was wrong.(Nasdaq: ZIP) - I predicted that the tech-heavy NASDAQ would outperform the Dow Jones Industrial Average
. It's been a strong year so far for tech stocks relative to the more-diversified blue chips that make up the 30 Dow components. NASDAQ clocked in with a 1.65% gain, besting the Dow's 1.16% uptick. I was right.(INDEX: ^DJI) - My final call was for Baidu
to blow past bottom-line estimates by analysts, the way that China's leading search engine has done over the past few quarters. Well, Baidu's quarterly net income of $0.93 a share was just enough to beat out the pros parked at $0.91 a share. I was right.(Nasdaq: BIDU)
Two for three? I know that I can do better than that.
Let me once again whip out my trusty, dusty, and occasionally accurate crystal ball to make three calls that may play out over the next few trading days.
1. Barnes & Noble will miss Wall Street's earnings estimates
Barnes & Noble
Borders vaporizing its stores last summer may seem like an opportunity, but it's really a grim sign that demand for leafy books continues to decline. B&N is a legitimate player in digital distribution through its Nook e-readers and tablets, but margins are going to be murder there if it wants to keep up with Amazon's cutthroat Kindle ways.
Analysts see the retailer earning $0.92 a share for the quarter, but that's just too high.
2.The NASDAQ Composite will once again beat the Dow this week
I'm pushing my luck on this particular call, but it's been an easy one to keep repeating the way investors are favoring fast-growing technology companies this year.
I just believe that this market is ripe for the tech-stacked secondary stocks to outpace the 30 mega-caps that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
3. Dollar Tree will beat Wall Street's earnings estimates
I may not be so hot on Barnes & Noble surpassing expectations, but I have a rosier opinion of a different retailer landing ahead of analysts.
Dollar Tree
If analysts say that the company earned $1.58 a share in its latest quarter, I'll whip out a "greater than" sign. History's on my side!
One of my best tricks to beating the market is finding stocks that perpetually land ahead of the prognosticators. Let's go over the past year of earnings reports.
EPS est. | EPS | Surprise | |
---|---|---|---|
Q4 2010 | $1.27 | $1.29 | 2% |
Q1 2011 | $0.75 | $0.82 | 9% |
Q2 2011 | $0.75 | $0.77 | 3% |
Q3 2011 | $0.83 | $0.87 | 5% |
Source: Thomson Reuters.
There has been a trend with shoppers moving out of deep-discount retailers as the economy shows signs of life, but I believe that Dollar Tree's value proposition is an all-weather winner.
No passing the buck here -- everything seems to be falling in place for another strong quarter on the bottom line.
Three for the road
Well, that's three predictions right there. Let's see how I fare this week.
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