Fortive (FTV) Gears Up For Q4 Earnings: What's In The Cards?

Fortive Corporation (NYSE:FTV) is slated to report fourth-quarter 2019 results on Feb 6. In the last reported quarter, it came up with in-line results.

The company topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, delivering average positive surprise of 2.1%.

Estimates for Q4

Fortive expects fourth-quarter 2019 non-GAAP earnings in the range of 96 cents to $1.01 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is currently pegged at $97 cents per share, indicating growth of 6.6% from the year-ago quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $1.98 billion, indicating growth of 12.6% from the year-ago reported figure.

Let’s see how things have shaped up for this announcement.

Fortive Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Performance in the Last Reported Quarter

Fortive had reported third-quarter 2019 non-GAAP earnings of 87 cents per share, inline with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The figure increased 17.6% from the year-ago quarter but decreased 3.3% on a sequential basis.

Revenues of $1.86 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.2%.

Acquisitions & Portfolio Strength — Key Catalysts

Fortive has made strong endeavors toward innovation and expansion of key offerings on the back of strong and accretive acquisitions. Acquisitions including Industrial Scientific and Landauer are expected to have driven its performance in the to-be-reported quarter.

Also, the integration of Advanced Sterilization Products is expected to have been on track and is likely to have benefited the company’s top-line growth.

Strength in the Professional Instrumentation segment — driven by acquisitions —is anticipated to be reflected in the upcoming quarterly results. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues from Professional Instrumentation is pegged at $1.15 billion, indicating a 3% year-over-year increase.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues from the Industrial Technologies segment for the to-be-reported quarter is pegged at $800 million, suggesting a 7.5% year-over-year improvement.

However, higher expenses incurred for these acquisitions and integration issues may negatively impact the upcoming quarterly results.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Fortive this time around. This is because 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. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: The company has an Earnings ESP of -4.45%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Currently, Fortive has a Zacks Rank #3.

Stocks That Warrant a Look

Here are a few stocks worth considering as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to deliver an earnings beat in the upcoming releases.

Five9, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVN) has an Earnings ESP of +1.33% and a Zacks Rank of 2.

AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) has an Earnings ESP of +1.02% and a Zacks Rank #3.

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) has an Earnings ESP of +8.12% and a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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