Can Ingersoll (IR) Maintain Its Earnings Streak In Q3?

Industrial goods manufacturer Ingersoll-Rand Plc (NYSE:IR) is scheduled to report third-quarter 2016 results before the opening bell on Oct 26. In the last reported quarter, adjusted earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8 cents. Ingersoll has a healthy earnings surprise history. In the trailing four quarters, the company has managed to beat earnings estimates on every occasion with an average positive earnings surprise of 11.7%.

Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Key Factors in the Past Quarter

Ingersoll has a solid foundation of global brands and leading market share in all major product lines. The geographic and product diversity coupled with a large installed product base provides ample growth opportunities within service, spare parts and replacement revenue streams. Additionally, the company’s complementary portfolio of products and services is likely to assist in strengthening its market position and achieving high productivity.

Also, the company’s strategic acquisitions are likely to serve as growth drivers, supplementing organic growth. Furthermore, Ingersoll is likely to achieve steady improvements in operating profitability with a strong commitment to fund new product developments, investing in IT platform and building its channel services footprint and product management capabilities.

Ingersoll expects to reap synergistic benefits from the product, channel, and service footprint investments made over the past five to seven years. The company continues to anticipate healthy revenue contributions from the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and transport refrigeration business units as well as from the compression technology business unit. The company also envisions significant contributions from its Internet of Things platform through connected buildings, intelligent monitoring of service, diagnostic and self-healing systems, and consumer marketing and fulfillment efforts.

In the to-be-reported quarter, adjusted earnings from continuing operations are expected to be in the range of $1.25 to $1.30 per share, with GAAP earnings in the range of $1.24 to $1.29.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model conclusively shows that Ingersoll is likely to beat earnings this quarter as it possesses the key components. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), #2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) for this to happen. This is perfectly the case here as you will see below:

Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate, is currently pegged at +0.78%.

Zacks Rank: Ingersoll’s Zacks Rank #3 when combined with a positive ESP makes an earnings beat likely this quarter.

Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or #5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revisions momentum.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) , with an Earnings ESP of +10.47% and a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Navigant Consulting Inc. (NYSE:NCI) , with an Earnings ESP of +6.90% and a Zacks Rank #3.

MarketAxess Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MKTX) , with an Earnings ESP of +1.30% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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