2 Top Performing Stocks to Watch as Earnings Approach: FIVE, MU

Set to release their quarterly reports after-market hours on Wednesday, March 18, Five Below FIVE and Micron Technology MU are two of the hottest stocks to consider at the moment.

Providing quality and trendy merchandise for $5 or less, Five Below's stock has performed well as the company continues to post strong financial results while expanding its brick-and-mortar footprint. Meanwhile, Micron is sitting at the center of the global AI boom amid increased demand for advanced memory chips, which have been in tight supply.

As two of the market’s top performers, Five Below's stock has soared nearly 200% in the last year, with Micron shares skyrocketing over 340%.

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Five Below’s Expansion Strategy

Targeting high-traffic suburban shopping centers and underserved markets in over 40 states, Five Below's strategic expansion has been advantageous for a retail leader that provides high-margin impulse products (toys, décor, tech accessories).

Five Below has also boosted its operating leverage by improving inventory management while launching successful marketing strategies. Attributed to robust consumer demand, Five Below has opened more than 400 stores in the last two years after planning to add 40 or more stores in early 2026 across 19 states.

Rounding out fiscal 2025, Five Below’s Q4 sales are expected to be up 23% year over year to $1.71 billion, with a 14% spike expected in Q4 EPS at $3.99. Driving investor sentiment is that Five Below has posted a very impressive average EPS surprise of 62.11% over its last four quarterly reports.

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The Zacks ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) indicates Five Below could exceed Q4 EPS expectations with the “Most Accurate” and recent estimate among Wall Street analysts at $4.01 and slightly above the underlying Zacks Consensus.

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Micron’s Memory Chip Advantage

AI training and inference workloads, most notably for Nvidia’s NVDA GPUs, require massive amounts of high-bandwidth memory (HMB), leading to an infamous supply chain shortage.

This has given Micron and other advanced memory chip producers, such as Sandisk SNDK, outstanding leverage as it relates to pricing power. Notably, Micron is one of the few companies capable of producing HBM3E at scale, the memory used in next-generation AI accelerators.

Reporting results for its fiscal second quarter on Wednesday, Micron’s Q2 sales are thought to have increased 139% YoY to $19.3 billion compared to $8.05 billion in the comparative quarter. More astonishing, Micron’s Q2 EPS is expected at $8.80, a 464% increase from $1.56 per share a year ago.

Plus, the Zacks ESP indicates Micron could exceed these lofty earnings expectations, with the Most Accurate estimate having Q2 EPS slated at $9.56 and 8% above the overall Zacks Consensus.

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Over the last four quarters, Micron has posted an average EPS surprise of 14.35%.

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Bottom Line

Five Below and Micron Technology are entering their upcoming earnings reports with strong momentum, supportive analyst sentiment, and clear catalysts — making now an attractive moment for investors. Based on a blazing trend of rising EPS revisions, Micron stock is currently boasting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), with Five Below sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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Micron Technology, Inc. (MU): Free Stock Analysis Report

Five Below, Inc. (FIVE): Free Stock Analysis Report

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): Free Stock Analysis Report

Sandisk Corporation (SNDK): Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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