With earnings still trickling through — and one major name still left to report — investors might want to take a look at stocks that have a strong track record of beating estimates and seeing their shares rally. The majority of companies in the S & P 500 having reported fourth-quarter earnings, but there are still some highly anticipated names investors are eyeing, including blockbuster chipmaker Nvidia and financial technology company Block . Stocks have been on a strong run this year, with the S & P 500 above the 5,000 level now, but have declined this week amid ongoing fears about persistent inflation. Using Bespoke Investment Group data, CNBC Pro screened for stocks set to release their quarterly results that meet the following criteria: Average earnings per share beat rate of 75% or higher Shares typically gain an average of 1.5% or more after reporting earnings Nvidia, which is set to report on Wednesday, has historically outperformed analysts’ earnings per share estimates 85% of the time, and its shares have jumped about 1.9% after quarterly results. So far this year, Nvidia has popped more than 40% and surpassed Google-parent Alphabet in market capitalization on Wednesday to become the third largest U.S. company. On the more bullish side, UBS increased its price target on Nvidia to $850 from $580 and maintained its buy rating in a Tuesday note. The firm expects Nvidia to report quarterly revenue of $22.95 billion, far above Wall Street’s expectations of $20.23 billion. This is fueled by solid demand for artificial intelligence compute capacity, according to UBS, which thinks Nvidia will significantly beat data-center revenue estimates, at least for the near term. Travel company Booking Holdings tends to beat consensus estimates with a 90% success rate. After reporting, the stock generally jumps about 2.2%, making it a solid bet for investors. The company will report quarterly results on Thursday. Analysts rate the stock overweight, on average, and have a consensus price target of $3,760.28, which isn’t that much higher than its Thursday close of $3,750.66. Shares of Booking Holdings are up about 4.4% in the new year. Deutsche Bank expects the company to post in-line results, but said there could be a risk to nights booked growth in the first quarter. Still, the firm reiterated its buy rating and $3,960 target price. “As travel demand remains strong and BKNG remains confident in a long-term growth algorithm that underwrites bookings growth at something higher than an [high single-digit] rate, we believe there is a clear path toward a nearly 20% sustainable EPS growth over the medium term,” analyst Lee Horowitz wrote in a Feb. 6 note. “As such, we believe assigning BKNG a multiple that is a slight premium to the market is justified.” Block , which will report fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, also made the cut. The fintech company’s businesses include Square, CashApp and Afterpay, and is known to exceed earnings estimates 78% of the time, while its stock typically gains just above 2% following quarterly results. On Tuesday, Benchmark initiated coverage of Block, saying it sees a “path to profitability.” The stock is down more than 15% since the start of the year. Analysts’ average price target indicates Block could gain 15.1 % over the next 12 months, per FactSet. Other names reporting soon that made the cut include cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks and restaurant chain Wingstop .
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