Why Investors Need to Take Advantage of These 2 Finance Stocks Now

Two factors often determine stock prices in the long run: earnings and interest rates. Investors can't control the latter, but they can focus on a company's earnings results every quarter.

Life and the stock market are both about expectations, and rising above what is expected is often rewarded, while falling short can come with negative consequences. Investors might want to try to capture stronger returns by finding positive earnings surprises.

Hunting for 'earnings whispers' or companies poised to beat their quarterly earnings estimates is a somewhat common practice. But that doesn't make it easy. One way that has been proven to work is by using the Zacks Earnings ESP tool.

The Zacks Earnings ESP, Explained

The Zacks Expected Surprise Prediction, or ESP, works by locking in on the most up-to-date analyst earnings revisions because they can be more accurate than estimates from weeks or even months before the actual release date. The thinking is pretty straightforward: analysts who provide earnings estimates closer to the report are likely to have more information.

The core of the ESP model is comparing the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, where the resulting percentage difference between the two equals the Expected Surprise Prediction. The Zacks Rank is also factored into the ESP metric to better help find companies that appear poised to top their next bottom-line consensus estimate, which will hopefully help lift the stock price.

In fact, when we combined a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better and a positive Earnings ESP, stocks produced a positive surprise 70% of the time. Perhaps most importantly, using these parameters has helped produce 28.3% annual returns on average, according to our 10 year backtest.

Stocks with a #3 (Hold) ranking, which is most stocks covered at 60%, are expected to perform in-line with the broader market. But stocks that fall into the #2 (Buy) and #1 (Strong Buy) ranking, or the top 15% and top 5% of stocks, respectively, should outperform the market. Strong Buy stocks should outperform more than any other rank.

Should You Consider Goldman Sachs?

The final step today is to look at a stock that meets our ESP qualifications. Goldman Sachs (GS) earns a #2 (Buy) 28 days from its next quarterly earnings release on April 13, 2026, and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $16.60 a share.

Goldman Sachs' Earnings ESP sits at +2.84%, which, as explained above, is calculated by taking the percentage difference between the $16.60 Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16.14. GS is also part of a large group of stocks that boast a positive ESP. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

GS is part of a big group of Finance stocks that boast a positive ESP, and investors may want to take a look at Allstate (ALL) as well.

Slated to report earnings on April 29, 2026, Allstate holds a #1 (Strong Buy) ranking on the Zacks Rank, and its Most Accurate Estimate is $7.22 a share 44 days from its next quarterly update.

Allstate's Earnings ESP figure currently stands at +0.77% after taking the percentage difference between its Most Accurate Estimate and its Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.16.

GS and ALL's positive ESP figures tell us that both stocks have a good chance at beating analyst expectations in their next earnings report.

Find Stocks to Buy or Sell Before They're Reported

Use the Zacks Earnings ESP Filter to turn up stocks with the highest probability of positively, or negatively, surprising to buy or sell before they're reported for profitable earnings season trading. Check it out here >>

Should You Invest in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS)?

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Zacks Investment Research has been committed to providing investors with tools and independent research since 1978. For more than a quarter century, the Zacks Rank stock-rating system has more than doubled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +24.08% per year. (These returns cover a period from January 1, 1988 through May 6, 2024.)

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The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS): Free Stock Analysis Report

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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