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Should You Buy Atmos Energy (ATO) Ahead of Earnings?

Zacks Equity Research
·2 min read

Investors are always looking for stocks that are poised to beat at earnings season and Atmos Energy Corporation ATO may be one such company. The firm has earnings coming up pretty soon, and events are shaping up quite nicely for their report.

That is because Atmos Energy is seeing favorable earnings estimate revision activity as of late, which is generally a precursor to an earnings beat. After all, analysts raising estimates right before earnings — with the most up-to-date information possible — is a pretty good indicator of some favorable trends underneath the surface for ATO in this report.

In fact, the Most Accurate Estimate for the current quarter is currently at 88 cents per share for ATO, compared to a broader Zacks Consensus Estimate of 86 cents per share. This suggests that analysts have very recently bumped up their estimates for ATO, giving the stock a Zacks Earnings ESP of +1.35% heading into earnings season.

Atmos Energy Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Atmos Energy Corporation Price and EPS Surprise
Atmos Energy Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Atmos Energy Corporation price-eps-surprise | Atmos Energy Corporation Quote

Why is this Important?

A positive reading for the Zacks Earnings ESP has proven to be very powerful in producing both positive surprises, and outperforming the market. Our recent 10-year backtest shows that stocks that have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better show a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and have returned over 28% on average in annual returns (see more Top Earnings ESP stocks here).

Given that ATO has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and an ESP in positive territory, investors might want to consider this stock ahead of earnings. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Clearly, recent earnings estimate revisions suggest that good things are ahead for Atmos Energy, and that a beat might be in the cards for the upcoming report.


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Zacks Investment Research

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