St. Jude Medical Inc. (STJ) is set to announce its 2014-first quarter results on April 16. In the last quarter, the company posted a positive surprise of 3.1%. Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Growth Factors This Past Quarter

St. Jude Medical posted a 7.6% rise in adjusted net earnings per share to 99 cents for the fourth quarter of 2013 from 92 cents a year-ago and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3 cents.

Revenues grew 3.6% to $1,422 million for the quarter, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,381 million. Unfavorable foreign currency translation reduced revenues by roughly $27 million.

For the first quarter of 2014, St. Jude Medical expects revenues in the range of $1,280 to $1,360 million while the company anticipates adjusted net earnings per share to lie between 94 and 96 cents for the quarter. The current Zacks Consensus Estimates for earnings per share and revenues for the quarter are pegged at 96 cents and $1,356 million.

For full year 2014, St. Jude Medical anticipates revenues in the range of $5,600 million to $5,750 million and adjusted net earnings per share between $3.94 and $3.99. The current Zacks Consensus Estimates for earnings per share and revenues for the year are pegged at $3.98 and $5,693 million.

Earnings Whispers?

Our proven model does not conclusively show that St. Jude Medical is likely to beat earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank of #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP, the difference between the Most Accurate estimate of 95 cents and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 95 cents, stands at nil.

Zacks Rank #2 (Buy): The combination of St. Jude Medical’s Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and 0% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. We caution against stocks with Zacks #4 and #5 Ranks (Sell rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions momentum.

Other Stocks to Consider

Here are some other companies you may want to consider as our model shows they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

• Baxter International Inc. (BAX), Earnings ESP of 7.3% and Zacks Rank #3 (Hold)

• Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW), Earnings ESP of 1.5%and Zacks Rank #3 (Hold)

• Omeros Corp. (OMER), Earnings ESP of 8.9% and Zacks #3 Rank (Hold)

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Read the Full Research Report on EW
Read the Full Research Report on OMER


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