As we progress through earnings season several top-rated Zacks stocks are expected to report their first quarter results on Monday, April 24.

Let’s take a look at three of these stocks that investors may want to consider buying with their earnings reports upon us.

Coca-Cola (KO)

Investors will want to consider Coca-Cola’s stock as the company approaches its first-quarter earnings report. Edging closer to its 52-week highs the beverage giant currently sports a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) with its Beverage-Soft Drink Industry in the top 19% of over 250 Zacks industries.

Q1 Preview: Coca-Cola’s Q1 earnings are expected to be up 1% from the prior year quarter at $0.65 per share. First-quarter sales are forecasted to rise 3% year over year at $10.87 billion. Plus, earnings estimate revisions have slightly gone up over the last quarter.

The bottom line growth of Coca-Cola is still steady with earnings now expected to rise 5% this year and jump another 7% in FY24 at $2.79 per share. Total sales are forecasted to be up 4% this year and rise another 5% in FY24 to $47.16 billion.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Cadence Design Systems (CDNS)

Also standing out before its Q1 earnings is Cadence Design Systems with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and the Computer-Software Industry in the top 39% of all Zacks industries.  

Providing tools that help customers design electronic products, Cadence''s offerings appear to be in higher demand. Cadence offers software, hardware, services and reusable IC design blocks (IPs) to electronic systems and semiconductor customers.

Q1 Preview: First-quarter earnings are projected to be up 7% YoY at $1.25 per share with sales forecasted to rise 11% to $1.01 billion. Notably and very impressive, Cadence has beaten earnings expectations for 22 consecutive quarters and topped sales estimates in its last 24 quarterly reports.  

Even better, annual earnings are anticipated to jump 16% this year and pop another 7% in FY24 at $5.34 per share. Earnings estimate revisions have noticeably gone up, rising 9% for FY23 over the last 90 days and up 6% for FY24.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Chugai Pharmaceuticals (CHGCY)

Lastly, Chugai Pharmaceuticals sports a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and is a lesser-known name that investors should pay attention to. Chugai’s Medical-Drug Industry is also in the top 39% of Zacks industries.

The Tokyo-based company’s first-quarter earnings could help confirm its stellar earnings growth. Chugai appears to be building a necessary niche in the healthcare field as a provider of pharmaceutical products for kidney diseases, kidney transplantation, bone and joint diseases, and cancer treatment. 

Q1 Preview:  Impressively, Chugai’s Q1 earnings are forecasted to climb 100% YoY at $0.68 per share compared to EPS of $0.34 in the prior year quarter. This is even more impressive considering sales are projected to decline -29% at $2.20 billion compared to $3.10 billion in Q1 2022.

Still, Chugai’s bottom line is very intriguing as annual earnings are now projected to soar 226% this year at $2.84 per share Vs. EPS of $0.87 in 2022. Fiscal 2024 earnings are expected to be virtually flat but slightly up at 2.85 per share.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Takeaway

The annual EPS growth for these companies is hard to overlook going into their Q1 reports. To that point, first quarter results could start to reaffirm this and lead to more upside in their stocks. Given their anticipated bottom-line expansion, Coca-Cola, Cadence Design Systems, and Chugai Pharmaceuticals are starting to look like sound investments for 2023 and beyond.

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