Willis Towers (WLTW) to Report Q2 Earnings: Will It Beat?

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company WLTW will report second-quarter 2019 results on Jul 31 after market close. The company delivered positive earnings surprise in two of the last four quarters with the average beat being 4.73%.

Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Willis Towers’ second-quarter results are likely to benefit from higher organic commissions and fees, solid customer retention levels, growth in new business and strong exchange business.

Commissions and fees are expected to benefit from organic growth across segments and rich contribution from acquisitions as well as geographic diversification.

Human Capital & Benefits, the largest segment of the company, should continue to benefit from new businesses. This should drive North America revenues and global benefit management appointments. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for segment revenues is pegged at $810 million, indicating an upside of 3.8% from the year-ago reported figure.

Corporate Risk & Broking segment’s revenues should benefit from new business. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for segment revenues is pegged at $685 million, implying an increase of 1.6% from the year-ago reported figure.

Investment, Risk & Reinsurance segment’s revenues are likely to benefit from new business and favorable renewals. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for segment revenues is pegged at $395 million, up 2.6% year over year.

Continued enrolment and a robust sales pipeline are expected to drive exchange business.

Expenses are likely to weigh on margin expansion.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings per share is pegged at $1.76, suggesting 3.5% year-over-year increase on 3.1% higher revenues.

What Our Quantitative Model States

Our proven model shows that Willis Towers is likely to beat on earnings in the to-be-reported. This is because the stock has both a positive Earnings ESP and a favorable Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen.

Earnings ESP: Willis Towers has an Earnings ESP of +0.28%. This is because the Most Accurate Estimate of $1.77 is higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.76. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company Price and EPS Surprise

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company Price and EPS Surprise

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company price-eps-surprise | Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company Quote

Zacks Rank: Willis Towers carries a Zacks Rank #2, which increases the predictive power of ESP.

We caution against the Sell-rated stocks (#4 or 5) going into an earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other stocks worth considering from the finance sector with the perfect mix of elements to surpass estimates this time around are as follows:

Marsh & McLennan Companies MMC is set to report second-quarter earnings on Jul 30 and has an Earnings ESP of +0.63%. The company has a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Radian Group RDN has an Earnings ESP of +0.24% and a Zacks Rank of 2. The company is set to release second-quarter earnings on Jul 31.

The Hartford Financial Services Group HIG has an Earnings ESP of +0.63% and is a Zacks #3 Ranked player. The company is slated to announce second-quarter earnings on Aug 1.

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