WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR
We'll spend another day looking for stocks with rising profit estimates and the potential to post positive earnings surprises in this shaky market. Yesterday, we looked at the Canadian market so today we'll turn our attention to the U.S.
MORE ABOUT TODAY'S SEARCH
We'll turn again to StarMine for help. StarMine is known for ranking analysts, but it also provides lots of other data about earnings estimates. We'll use the StarMine Indicator today, which ranks stocks from 1 to 100 based on three earnings criteria:
StarMine finds the analysts that have predicted surprises in the past and then sees if they are projecting more.
It finds recent increases to earnings estimates by analysts for the current quarter and year.
It looks for positive changes in analyst recommendations.
We'll screen for U.S.-listed companies with a StarMine Indicator greater than 90, market capitalizations greater than $300-million U.S., and coverage by at least three analysts. We'll rank companies with the greatest increase in the past 60 days of mean estimated earnings per share for the next quarter.
SO WHAT DID WE TURN UP?
Look at the column called "Smart earnings estimate this quarter" and compare it with "Mean earnings estimate this quarter." This is where StarMine figures out which analysts have been good at predicting earnings in the past and isolates them in a smart estimate. Look for cases where the smart estimate is better than the mean estimate.
| Best StarMine indicators - U.S. | # of | Recom. | % | % | Mean earnings estimate this Q | Smart | Mean earn | ||||||
| Market | analyst | mean | 90-day | 360-days | % chg | % chg | Earnings | est chg % | |||||
| US$ Price | cap | recom- | 1=strong | price | price | in last | in last | estimate | Estimate | next fisc yr | StarMine | ||
| Symbol | Company | Nov. 16 | US$-mil | mend. | buy | chg | chg | 30 days | 60 days | this Q | this Q | in last 60 dys | indicator |
| ELNK-Q | Earthlink Inc. | 7.27 | 875 | 8 | 2.38 | 13.2 | 9.5 | 156.4 | 155.0 | 0.157 | 0.165 | 749.5 | 94 |
| MEOH-Q | Methanex Corp. | 26.90 | 2,838 | 9 | 3.22 | 35.4 | 12.3 | -3.5 | 148.7 | 0.940 | 0.945 | 123.9 | 100 |
| MON-N | Monsanto Co. | 94.28 | 51,507 | 13 | 2.08 | 49.7 | 101.2 | 92.4 | 119.4 | 0.351 | 0.352 | 15.3 | 99 |
| REP-N | Repsol YPF SA | 37.51 | 45,351 | 6 | 3.67 | 4.3 | 8.3 | 70.9 | 92.9 | 1.350 | 1.350 | 9.6 | 100 |
| FFH-N | Fairfax Financial Hold. | 277.00 | 5,001 | 4 | 2.25 | 47.8 | 49.5 | 88.0 | 88.0 | 11.507 | 11.524 | 19.3 | 98 |
| FSLR-Q | First Solar Inc. | 212.63 | 16,576 | 19 | 2.05 | 149.5 | 764.3 | 86.2 | 83.7 | 0.525 | 0.525 | 36.2 | 99 |
| ENS-N | Enersys Inc. | 20.80 | 986 | 3 | 1.33 | 9.4 | 24.0 | 82.2 | 82.2 | 0.273 | 0.274 | 8.1 | 100 |
| CSIQ-Q | Canadian Solar Inc. | 17.76 | 484 | 6 | 3.00 | 144.3 | 19.2 | 76.7 | 79.2 | 0.147 | 0.165 | 89.0 | 97 |
| SWIM-Q | Investools Inc. | 15.21 | 996 | 6 | 1.33 | 21.6 | 21.3 | 71.1 | 71.1 | 0.192 | 0.189 | 19.3 | 92 |
| RSYS-Q | Radisys Corp. | 16.01 | 355 | 5 | 2.00 | 36.3 | -10.7 | 65.3 | 65.3 | 0.122 | 0.122 | 25.6 | 100 |
| DRYS-Q | Dryships Inc. | 89.11 | 3,697 | 7 | 1.86 | 72.0 | 573.5 | 33.8 | 60.2 | 3.990 | 3.977 | 69.9 | 100 |
| PWRD-Q | Perfect World Co. Ltd. | 25.50 | 959 | 6 | 1.67 | 23.5 | -- | 51.9 | 51.9 | 0.273 | 0.273 | 28.6 | 100 |
| LXK-N | Lexmark Int'l Inc. | 35.91 | 3,402 | 15 | 3.27 | -3.2 | -46.7 | 51.1 | 51.1 | 0.582 | 0.592 | 5.3 | 95 |
| AUO-N | AU Optronics Corp. | 19.43 | 15,184 | 3 | 1.33 | 31.6 | 51.8 | 0.0 | 49.7 | 0.940 | 0.940 | 45.8 | 95 |
| MGLN-Q | Magellan Health Svc. | 46.89 | 1,867 | 9 | 2.22 | 11.1 | 7.3 | 44.5 | 47.9 | 0.628 | 0.657 | 4.6 | 95 |
| SGY-N | Stone Energy Corp. | 41.90 | 1,174 | 6 | 2.33 | 34.3 | 9.3 | 29.7 | 44.8 | 1.286 | 1.404 | 45.5 | 100 |
| PLXS-Q | Plexus Corp. | 28.78 | 1,334 | 15 | 2.60 | 25.6 | 12.8 | 42.2 | 42.7 | 0.595 | 0.611 | 12.8 | 93 |
| IPCS-Q | iPCS Inc | 35.15 | 600 | 3 | 2.33 | 8.5 | -18.0 | 41.3 | 41.3 | -0.320 | -0.325 | 15.5 | 94 |
| EXM-N | Excel Maritime Carr. | 44.17 | 866 | 8 | 2.13 | 36.1 | 228.3 | 17.9 | 37.1 | 1.490 | 1.542 | 63.0 | 100 |
| SCMP-Q | Sucampo Pharm. Inc. | 12.16 | 507 | 3 | 1.67 | -0.7 | -- | 36.7 | 36.7 | -0.023 | -0.044 | 24.4 | 91 |
| UTHR-Q | United Therapeutics | 99.99 | 2,126 | 14 | 1.36 | 53.7 | 71.3 | 36.3 | 36.3 | 0.544 | 0.556 | 12.8 | 94 |
| MASI-Q | Masimo Corp. | 31.63 | 1,728 | 5 | 2.40 | 53.6 | -- | 26.0 | 35.0 | 0.120 | 0.135 | 14.4 | 99 |
| VCP-N | Votorantim Celulose | 32.77 | 3,265 | 7 | 1.71 | 57.1 | 77.6 | 38.8 | 34.3 | 0.448 | 0.551 | 4.0 | 100 |
| WLL-N | Whiting Petro. Corp. | 52.96 | 2,250 | 12 | 2.67 | 33.0 | 18.0 | 17.2 | 33.1 | 0.761 | 0.777 | 22.5 | 100 |
| ALXN-Q | Alexion Pharm. Inc. | 73.80 | 2,774 | 10 | 1.60 | 26.5 | 65.2 | 33.8 | 33.0 | -0.482 | -0.490 | 43.4 | 94 |
| GPS-N | Gap Inc. | 20.09 | 16,036 | 25 | 2.36 | 16.8 | 7.3 | 32.8 | 31.5 | 0.290 | 0.291 | 7.0 | 98 |
| PCZ-N | Petro-Canada Inc. | 52.99 | 27,356 | 5 | 2.60 | 8.6 | 18.7 | 20.9 | 30.0 | 1.554 | 1.678 | 18.6 | 91 |
SOURCE: STARMINE
Scott Adams