As earnings season continues, Wall Street analysts are raising their outlook for certain names set to report earnings next week. Almost a third of S & P 500 names will be releasing their quarterly earnings in the first week of May, including tech giant Apple. Nearly half of the index has posted earnings already, with 81% of them beating expectations through Thursday morning, FactSet data shows. Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Honeywell are among the companies that topped estimates. To be sure, corporate America came into this reporting period with muted expectations. Analysts forecast S & P 500 earnings fell more than 5% year over year, according to Refinitiv. Investors are also looking toward the Federal Reserve’s upcoming May meeting, during which Chair Jerome Powell is expected to hike interest rates by another 25 basis points — presenting the question of which companies can remain resilient amid tightening monetary conditions. Against this backdrop, CNBC Pro used FactSet data to screen for companies reporting next week that analysts have been getting more bullish on. The screen searched for companies announcing earnings next week that met the following criteria: At least five upward revisions of earnings per share estimates in the past three months Forward per share earnings estimate increases of at least 10% over the past three and six months Five or less downward earnings revisions in the past three months Analysts have been ratcheting up earnings estimates on natural gas company Oneok . The average earnings per share estimate for the company is up more than 55% over the past three months. In the past six months, it’s up 91.8%. To be sure, shares are down 1% in 2023 and have stayed relatively flat over the last 12 months. Almost half of analysts covering Oneok have a strong buy or buy rating on shares, according to Refinitiv data. Oneok is slated to report earnings Tuesday after the bell. Another company reporting next week that has seen its analyst estimates go up sharply is biopharmaceutical company Incyte . Eight analysts have hiked their earnings forecasts on the stock, while only three have lowered them. Overall, analyst earnings estimates for Incyte are up 48% over the past three months and nearly 13% over the past six months. Per Refinitiv, the stock is expected to jump more than 20% over the next 12 months. The company is scheduled to report earnings Tuesday before the bell. Human capital management software company Ceridian HCM Holding was also named on the list. Shares are flat for 2023 but have jumped 13.7% during the past 12 months. On average, analysts have hiked their earnings per share estimates on the company by 46% over the past six months and 27% in the past three months. On top of that, analysts have hiked their price targets by 17% over the past six months. Incyte is slated to report Wednesday after the close. Arista Networks also made the screen. The cloud software company’s earnings estimates have gone up 32% over the past six months. The average price target on the stock is also up 18% in that time. On top of that, Arista — along with Ceridian — hasn’t had an analyst lower their earnings per share forecast in the past three months. Arista is expected to post earnings Monday after the bell. Ansys and Marriott International also made the list. —CNBC’s Chris Hayes contributed to this report.
