3 Best Earnings Acceleration Stocks to Buy in March 2026

As March begins, savvy investors are likely to focus on companies that show steady earnings growth as an indicator of profitability. Even more influential, however, is earnings acceleration, which is a stronger trigger for pushing stock prices higher. Research indicates that the top-performing stocks often show earnings acceleration before their share prices increase.

To that end, Intuit Inc. INTU, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS, and Octave Specialty Group, Inc. OSG are showing strong earnings acceleration this month. 

Earnings Acceleration Explained 

Earnings acceleration is the incremental growth in a company’s earnings per share (EPS). In other words, if a company’s quarter-over-quarter earnings growth rate increases within a stipulated time frame, it can be called earnings acceleration. 

In the case of earnings growth, you pay for something that is already reflected in the stock price. However, earnings acceleration helps identify stocks that haven’t yet caught investors' attention and, once secured, will invariably lead to a rally in share price. This is because earnings acceleration considers both the direction and magnitude of growth rates.

An increasing percentage of earnings growth means that the company is fundamentally sound and has been on the right track for a considerable period. Meanwhile, a sideways percentage of earnings growth indicates a period of consolidation or slowdown, while a decelerating percentage of earnings growth may drag prices down.

Screening Parameters Using Research Wizard: 

Look at stocks for which the last two quarter-over-quarter percentage EPS growth rates exceed the previous periods’ growth rates. The projected EPS growth rates for the upcoming quarter are expected to exceed those of prior periods.

EPS % Projected Growth (Q1)/(Q0) greater than EPS % Growth (Q0)/(Q-1): The projected growth rate for the current quarter (Q1) over the completed quarter (Q0) has to be greater than the growth rate from the completed quarter (Q0) over one quarter ago (Q-1). 

EPS % Growth (Q0)/(Q-1) greater than EPS % Growth (Q-1)/(Q-2): The growth rate for the completed quarter (Q0) over one quarter ago (Q-1) has to be greater than the growth rate from one quarter ago (Q-1) over two quarters ago (Q-2).

EPS % Growth (Q-1)/(Q-2) greater than EPS % Growth (Q-2)/(Q-3): The growth rate from one quarter ago (Q-1) over two quarters ago (Q-2) has to be greater than the growth rate from two quarters ago (Q-2) over three quarters ago (Q-3).

In addition to this, we have added the following parameters:

Current Price greater than or equal to $5: This screens out low-priced stocks.

Average 20-day volume greater than or equal to 50,000: High trading volume implies that the stocks have adequate liquidity.

The above criteria narrowed the universe of around 7,735 stocks to only 17. Here are the top three stocks:

Intuit 

Intuit offers financial management, payments, capital, compliance and marketing services in the United States. INTU’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 14.7%. Currently, the company has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Goldman Sachs  

Goldman Sachs provides financial services to corporations, institutions, governments and individuals worldwide. Its expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 10.3%. GS currently has a Zacks Rank of #2.  

Octave Specialty Group 

Octave Specialty is a financial services holding company with two segments: Specialty Property & Casualty Insurance and Insurance Distribution. OSG’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 143.1%. Currently, the firm has a Zacks Rank #2. 

 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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