Quarterly earnings reports are big movers for many stock prices. When a company fails to meet the market's expectations, its stock will usually drop to discount in the new information. If earnings exceed expectations, a higher stock price will usually be the reward.
With that in mind, we created a screen of stocks that meet the following criteria:
- Releasing earnings April 25 to April 27
- Dividend yield between 3%-7%
- Short covering month over month (bullish signal)
Business section: Investing ideas
We chose to search for short covering because changes in the number of shares shorted over time can give a clue as to whether investors are becoming more or less pessimistic about the name.
In this case, when a stock sees fewer shares shorted over time, it indicates greater optimism from investors.
Do you agree? (Click here to access free, interactive tools to analyze these ideas.)
1. RPC
2. Old Republic International
3. United Bankshares
4. Corporate Office Properties Trust
5. Federated Investors
6. Validus Holdings: Provides reinsurance and insurance coverage in the property, marine, and specialty lines markets worldwide. The company has a market cap of $3.15 billion, most recent closing price at $30.88. Dividend yield: 3.24%. Earnings date: April 26. Shares shorted have decreased from 1.94 million to 378,870 over the last month, a decrease which represents about 1.71% of the company's float of 91.32 million shares. Days-to-cover ratio stands at 0.52 days.
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned above. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.