The fourth quarter earnings season has just begun. Some companies manage to consistently surprise the market with positive earnings reports. If you believe that company characteristics can allow EPS surprises to persist across reporting seasons, you may be very interested in this list. Test out your investing ideas with a free practice portfolio on Kapitall. We ran an analysis of stocks in the biotech industry for those that have demonstrated this persistence in EPS surprises, with a significant average of positive EPS surprises over the last four quarters. Do you think these companies will surprise us once more? Use this list as a starting-off point for your own analysis. List sorted by average earnings surprise. List Average 1-Year Return: 49%. 1. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN): Develops, and commercializes pharmaceutical products for the treatment of serious medical conditions in the United States. Market cap at $17.71B, most recent closing price at $183.40.In Dec 2011: Reported EPS at -0.54 vs. estimate at -0.6 (surprise of 10%). In Mar 2012: Reported EPS at 0.11 vs. estimate at -0.23 (surprise of 147.8%). In Jun 2012: Reported EPS at 0.7 vs. estimate at 0.27 (surprise of 159.3%). In Sep 2012: Reported 1.72 vs. estimate at 0.95 (surprise of 81.1%. [Average earnings surprise at 99.55%]. 2. Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OPTR,): Focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing hospital specialty products worldwide. Market cap at $498.84M, most recent closing price at $10.46.In Dec 2011: Reported EPS at 0.28 vs. estimate at 0.11 (surprise of 154.5%). In Mar 2012: Reported EPS at -0.23 vs. estimate at -0.38 (surprise of 39.5%). In Jun 2012: Reported EPS at -0.01 vs. estimate at -0.06 (surprise of 83.3%). In Sep 2012: Reported -0.56 vs. estimate at -0.64 (surprise of 12.5%. [Average earnings surprise at 72.45%].
