Is A Beat In The Cards For Synchrony Financial Q1 Earnings?

Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) will release first-quarter 2019 results on Apr 18, before the market opens. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive surprise of 17.2%, backed by the PayPal Credit program acquisition and robust loan receivables growth.

Let’s see, how things are shaping up prior to the announcement for this to-be-reported quarter.

Earnings Catalysts for Q1

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 88 cents, up 18.9% year over year. The company’s performance has been likely driven by an expanded purchase volume, constant efforts in boosting its portfolio through alliances, among others.

Synchrony Financial’s Retail Card platform might have retained its winning streak with the rising card sales, which in turn, has contributed to the company’s revenue growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $4.3 billion, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 9.4%.

Given the company’s efforts to provide its customers with better purchasing options, its online purchases platform possibly have witnessed significant growth. Strategic moves, such as acquiring Pets Best to boost the CareCredit platform have also helped the company expand its portfolio and drive sales through a solid customer offering.

Synchrony Financial’s net charge-off trend will probably be on the upper end of 40-70 basis point range due to a seasonal decline in receivables in the PayPal credit portfolio.

Reserve build is expected around $200 million during the quarter under consideration excluding a reserve impact from the sale of the Walmart (NYSE:WMT) portfolio.

Continued share buybacks likely have provided an additional boost to the company’s bottom-line.

However, the company is anticipated to have suffered high costs due to investments in sales platforms, alliances, etc.

What the Quantitative Model Predicts

Our proven model conclusively shows that Synchrony Financial is likely to beat on earnings this reporting cycle. This is because the stock has the right combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a favorable Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold).

Earnings ESP: Synchrony Financial has an Earnings ESP of +2.61%. This is because the Most Accurate Estimate is pegged at 91 cents, higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 88 cents. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Synchrony Financial carries a Zacks Rank #3, which increases the predictive power of ESP. Moreover, a positive ESP in the combination raises the odds of a likely earnings surprise this time around.

Conversely, the Sell-rated stocks (#4 or 5) should never be considered going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other stocks worth considering from the finance sector with the perfect combination of elements to also surpass estimates in the upcoming releases are as follows:

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL) is set to report first-quarter earnings on May 1. This stock has a Zacks Rank of 3 and an Earnings ESP of +5.08%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

AMERISAFE, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSF) has an Earnings ESP of +2.60% and is a #3 Ranked company. It is scheduled to release first-quarter earnings on May 1.

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:HIG) is slated to announce first-quarter earnings on May 1. The stock has an Earnings ESP of +0.06% and is a Zacks #3 Ranked player.

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