Earnings season is pretty much over now. Many companies managed to beat drastically reduced expectations. As a result, many bears focused on poor earnings quality and the fact that the bar had been lowered so far, it was no great accomplishment to exceed expectations.
There were a number of stocks, though, that beat fair and square. We compiled a list of stocks that had increased earnings per share sequentially and year-over-year and increased revenues sequentially and year-over-year. We had 218 stocks that made the list. We then cross referenced this list with the S&P 500 and came up with the following list of 27 stocks:
| Symbol |
Name |
| AET |
AETNA INC. |
| AFL |
AFLAC INC. |
| BMC |
BMC SOFTWARE, INC. |
| GILD |
Gilead Sciences, Inc. |
| ORLY |
O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. |
| PCL |
PLUM CREEK TIMBER COMPANY, INC. |
| PGN |
PROGRESS ENERGY, INC. |
| PEG |
PUBLIC SERVICE ENTERPRISE GROUP INCORPORATED |
| DGX |
QUEST DIAGNOSTICS INC. |
| CRM |
SALESFORCE.COM, INC. |
| LH |
LABORATORY CORP. OF AMER. |
| VZ |
VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS |
| WAG |
WALGREENS CO. |
| WPI |
WATSON PHARMACEUTICALS |
| CMCSA |
Comcast Corporation |
| EP |
ELPASO CORPORATION |
| EXC |
EXELON CORPORATION |
| FDO |
FAMILY DOLLAR STORES, INC |
| GME |
GAMESTOP CORP (HOLDING COMPANY) |
| MFE |
MCAFEE, INC. |
| MHS |
MEDCO HEALTH SOLUTIONS, INC. |
| MIL |
MILLIPORE CORPORATION |
| MON |
MONSANTO COMPANY |
| SWN |
SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY COMPANY |
| SRCL |
Stericycle, Inc. |
| UNH |
UNITED HEALTH GROUP INCORPORATED |
| VAR |
VARIAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS, INC. |
So 27 stocks out of 500 amounts to barely over 5%. Out of the total universe of stocks that we evaluated the percentage is more like 3%.
Perhaps the bears have a point, in a general way, that earnings are weaker than the headlines would seem to indicate. Be that as it may, we are in a recession so it can be expected that earnings will be somewhat scrawny. So it seems that the companies that have demonstrated that they can continue to grow through tough economic times deserve special recognition.
If you would like to see the total list of stocks that qualified as Growth Leaders, you can download a spreadsheet by clicking
here. The spreadsheet contains all the financial data we compile for the stocks we evaluate.
