Medical Services Stock Q1 Earnings On May 10: CRL, XON, INCR

With the earnings season drawing to a close and the majority of the bigwigs having reported results we can conclude that the earnings picture was positive. As of May 5, 412 S&P 500 members that account for 85.7% of the index’s total market capitalization reported results. Earnings for these companies are up 14.2% year over year on 7.3% higher revenues. Of these, 73.3% beat earnings estimates and 67.7% beat revenue estimates resulting in a blended beat of 52.9%.

Although estimates for the current period have come down, the magnitude has lessened quite a bit as compared to the previous quarters. Results from about 18% of the S&P 500 members are still awaited.

Notably, Medical is one of those sectors which is expected to record growth in the positive territory. As of May 5, 79.6% companies in the Medical sector reported results, putting up a blended beat of 60.5% (the percentage of companies that have beaten both earnings and revenue estimates). Overall the sector has registered 5.9% earnings growth on 6.1% higher revenues.

With these factors in mind, let’s see what awaits these three medical services stocks that are slated to release their first-quarter 2017 results on May 10.

Headquartered in Wilmington, MA, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) is an early-stage contract research organization. It provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and leading academic institutions accelerate their research and drug development efforts. The company delivered earnings surprise in the trailing four quarters, with the average beat of 7.63%. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Although the rank is favorable, the company’s 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. Nevertheless, a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 12.76% raises confidence in the stock. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Intrexon Corporation (NYSE:XON) missed expectations thrice in the four trailing quarters and matched estimates once, with an average negative surprise of 12.37%. The company follows a business model under which it commercializes its technologies through exclusive channel collaborations (ECC), licensing agreements and joint ventures with collaborators that have market and product development expertise, as well as sales and marketing capabilities to better products and processes to market.

The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 and has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. Although the rank is favorable, the company’s 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. (Read more: Will Intrexon Pull Off a Surprise in Q1 Earnings?)

INC Research Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:INCR) is a global contract research organization providing the full range of Phase I to Phase IV clinical development services for the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. The company has a decent track record so far having beaten expectations in two of the last four quarters and missed the same in one with an average positive surprise of 4.2%. However, the company’s Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of 0.00% make surprise prediction difficult.

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