Earnings season is in full swing. Granted, company earnings haven’t done much good to the stock market, but smart investors know that buying stocks before earnings could increase their chances of making big money. Whenever a company beats expectations or even has an upbeat projection, the stock can move upward for significant gains. In fact, here are the top stocks to buy before earnings.
| ULTA | Ulta Beauty | $523.43 |
| ORCL | Oracle | $89.78 |
| ASAN | Asana | $17.12 |
Ulta Beauty (ULTA)
One solid reason to invest in Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) is that the demand for its product usually does not drop. The demand for cosmetics has remained consistent in inflation or a recession. It is a discretionary purchase but something that is not expensive and women continue to invest in cosmetics throughout the year. The company has beaten estimates in the last four quarters and the expectations for this quarter are high. Ulta Beauty is set to report results on March 9. If you want to make the most of the results, this is one of the best stocks to buy before earnings.
ULTA stock is trading at $522 today, closer to the 52-week high of $537 but upbeat earnings could take the stock over $530. It is up 10% year to date. If you think that the looming recession fears could affect the company’s earnings, you are wrong. In the last quarterly earnings report, it reported a sales increase to $2.3 billion from $2 billion. The company also saw a 27.5% rise in net income. It has consistently seen revenue growth and invested in the luxury beauty market to cater to the changing needs of customers. It has recently launched an expanded luxury lineup and will offer it online and across 200 stores.
Buying ULTA stock before results will be a wise choice as the company is expected to beat expectations and impress investors with a strong quarter. Cowen has raised the target price of the stock to $570 with an Outperform rating. Cowen expects the company to deliver above-consensus results. Even Oppenheimer analyst Rupesh Parikh has a price target of $600 with an Outperform rating on the stock.
Oracle (ORCL)
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is a solid tech stock that offers enterprise software products and services besides its cloud services. At the moment, the ORCL stock is trading at $89.25 and is up 6% year to date. It dropped to $61 in September 2022 but has steadily grown over time. Besides the growth potential, Oracle also pays dividends and hasn’t reduced them since 2009. Its dividends have grown 14% in the last five years and the company enjoys a current dividend yield of 1.46%. It remains one of the top stocks to buy before earnings.
With second-quarter results, Oracle reported revenue of $12.3 billion showing a 25% growth which exceeded the higher end of the management’s guidance. It declared a dividend of $0.32 per share which means cash is not a problem and neither is long-term growth. The company knows that the future is cloud and it is investing heavily in it. Oracle offers a suite of AI-powered applications which is a group of services that have machine learning models prebuilt in them. It caters to the healthcare industry, finance industry, and retail sector.
The stock is highly undervalued and investing in ORCL stock at this stage could be a very smart move. As compared to other tech players, Oracle is trading at a much cheaper rate. The company is set to report quarterly results on March 9.
Asana (ASAN)
Asana (NYSE:ASAN) is a work management platform that makes it easier for professionals to create and collaborate. The company has managed to beat EPS in the last four quarters and it is expected that it will repeat the same this quarter. In the previous quarter, Asana’s revenue was up 41% year over year at $141.44 million and its revenue from customers spending more than $100,000 or more in a year grew 78% year over year while customers spending $5,000 or more grew 52% year over year.
Robert Simmons, a DA Davidson analyst has a Buy rating for the stock with a price target of $18. The firm is of the opinion that there is an upside to the consensus looking ahead and the management is making the right efforts to drive margins higher. ASAN stock jumped 8% after this upgrade.
The company is a leader and the stock is trading under $20, which makes it a solid stock to add to your portfolio. The company is set to report earnings on March 7 and it expects to report a revenue ranging between $144 billion and $146 billion. The investor sentiment toward the stock might be low right now but positive earnings could spark an upward movement.
On the date of publication, Vandita Jadeja did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.