Business Service Earnings To Watch On Aug 2: CAR, CBZ & More

Over 60% of the total S&P 500 index members have released their second-quarter results through Jul 29. Following the disappointing trend set in other recent quarters, growth continues to remain elusive, while estimates have shown a decline although improving sequentially. The second quarter is expected to be the fifth in a row to suffer an earnings decline for the benchmark index. Despite modest improvements seen so far, growth is still hard to obtain.

Per the latest Earnings Preview report, 317 S&P 500 companies have reported their second-quarter earnings so far with 72.9% topping bottom-line estimates and 53.6% coming in ahead of top-line expectations. The overall report suggests that earnings results have moved south 3.3%, on a 0.9% decrease in revenues from the same period last year.

The overall trend has been more or less spelled out for all sectors, except Retail and Utilities, as the two still have more than half of their earnings to report. This is going to be yet another hectic week as far as earnings releases are concerned with 116 S&P500 companies queued up to report their numbers.

Eight out of 16 Zacks sectors are expected to see growth in negative territory in Q2, with Energy, Basic Materials, Aerospace and Transportation suffering double-digit declines. However, Autos, Construction, Conglomerates, Utilities, Medical, Retail, Consumer Discretionary and Business Services – eight in all – are projected to land up on the brighter side, booking growth this season.

The Business Services sector is looking reasonably good. For the sector, earnings are expected to grow 5.7%, while sales are touted to rise 6.6% over last year. The projected improvement is largely due to a recovery in oil prices and the faded effects of the dollar strength.

On that note let’s look into a couple of business service stocks that are expected to release their results on Aug 2.

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) provides vehicle rental services through a network of approximately 10,000 car and truck rental locations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, the Caribbean, and parts of Asia. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) for it to beat estimates. Avis Budget has a positive earnings ESP of 5.41% and it carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), making earnings beat likely. Last quarter, the company had incurred a loss, delivering a sharp negative surprise of 154.6%. In fact, the bottom line has underperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by an average of 32.9% over the trailing four quarters (read: Can Avis Budget's Q2 Earnings Break its Dismal Trend?).

CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ) ,a consulting company, offers professional business services, products and solutions to clients across the U.S. and Canada. CBIZ has an earnings ESP of 0.00% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten estimates on every occasion, with an average beat of 96.67%.

LifeLock, Inc. (NYSE:LOCK) offers identity theft protection services for consumers and consumer risk management services for businesses across the U.S. LifeLock has an earnings ESP of 0.00% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. Over the last four quarters, the company beat estimates thrice, with an average beat of 12.38%.

RPX Corporation (NASDAQ:RPXC) provides exclusive risk management solutions across the U.S., Japan, Korea, and internationally. RPX Corporation has an earnings ESP of 0.00% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed estimates thrice, with an average beat of 23.12%.

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) provides data analytics solutions; it has its operations spread across the U.S. and internationally. Verisk has an earnings ESP of -1.32% and carries a Zacks Rank #4. Over the last four quarters, the company beat estimates thrice, with an average beat of 7.78% (read: Will Verisk Disappoint Estimates in Q2 Earnings?)