Some of Wall Street’s most popular stocks will report their latest earnings in the coming week. The next few days will once again be the busiest weeks of earnings season. More than 160 companies in the S&P 500, or nearly a third of the benchmark, are waiting to report results, and six of those companies are also in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The midpoint of the first-quarter earnings season should arrive sometime next Tuesday. So far, profits have been positive. As of Friday, 77% of companies had reported quarterly earnings that beat analysts’ expectations, according to FactSet. Three-fifths, or 60%, of companies also beat expectations. To find stocks that could rise in valuation after earnings next week, CNBC Pro sifted through stocks recommended by Wall Street analysts and backed by earnings momentum. Companies must meet the following criteria: Earnings per share are expected to grow by at least 10% over the past three and six months At least 55% of analysts have buy ratings with price targets that are at least 10% higher than current levels Take a look at the names below: Analysts Amazon’s three-month and six-month profit forecasts were recently raised by 139% and 309% respectively. Consensus price targets suggest potential upside of 31% for the e-commerce platform. Amazon shares are up 18% this year. The owner of Amazon Web Services (AWS) will report first-quarter earnings after the market close on Tuesday. Earlier this month, UBS and Citi both reiterated their buy ratings on Amazon and raised their 12-month price targets. Citi analyst Ronald Josey highlighted the technology company as one of his top picks in the Internet sector, and his updated price target of $235 suggests the company’s shares could rise another 31%. “Given faster shipping, we believe conversion rates are improving as Amazon’s retail business benefits from its regionalized approach with shorter shipping distances and lower overall service costs,” Joshi wrote. “On AWS, with optimized Weakened, demand for new instances appears to be improving, led by GenAI.” Mastercard’s earnings estimates have risen 12% over the past three months and 20% over the past six months. The average analyst price target suggests the stock could rise 18%. TD Cowen issued a buy rating on the credit card company earlier this month. Analyst Bryan Bergin set a price target of $545, equivalent to an 18% upside for Credit Card Network. Mastercard shares are up 8% this year. The company releases its results before the stock market opens on Wednesday. Data center company Equinix also appears on the screen. Analysts have raised earnings estimates for the Silicon Valley real estate investment trust by 29% over the past three and six months. Equinix shares have fallen 9% this year, but analysts predict the stock could rise 11% from there. Equinix will report its latest earnings and revenue next Wednesday. —CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
