Which Top 5 Software Stocks Have the Strongest Earnings Trends?

February 26, 2013

Page 1 of 5

Earnings trends are extremely important when evaluating stocks. At Wall St. Cheat Sheet, we view increasing earnings quarter-over-quarter as a simple way to gauge whether costs and the business model are stable. Then we like to analyze whether the company is outperforming peers in the sector. This is what we call the “E-Squared” investment analysis (‘E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter’ + ‘E = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector’).

Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. Click here to discover our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now!

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to how the top 5 software stocks rank via earnings trends:

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL): Current Price $34.28

Fiscal Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Revenue ($) in millions	22,430	23,250	26,820	35,620	37,120
Diluted EPS ($)	1.06	1.09	1.21	1.67	1.96

Oracle has produced solid growth in revenue and EPS every year after 2008.

These stocks are hitting our Profit Targets. Click here now to discover winning stocks!

Next, our CHEAT SHEET investing framework asks us to drill down to the recent quarterly data:

Quarter	Nov. 30, 2011	Feb. 29, 2012	May. 31, 2012	Aug. 31, 2012	Nov. 30, 2012
Revenue ($) in millions	8,792	9,039	10,920	8,181	9,094
Diluted EPS ($)	0.43	0.49	0.68	0.41	0.53

There’s obviously a slowdown in revenue and EPS after May 2012, though we like the rise in the EPS in November 2012. Oracle stays in the reckoning…

Page 1 of 5

view all

To contact the reporter on this story: staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com To contact the editor responsible for this story: editors@wallstcheatsheet.com