Earnings Season: 3 Companies Raising Guidance

The 2025 Q1 earnings cycle is in full swing, with many S&P 500 companies on the docket to reveal quarterly results in the coming weeks.

Guidance is a key factor in this cycle, more so than we’ve seen in recent periods due to the overall level of uncertainty brought about by recent tariff announcements and other economic developments.

So far, several companies, including Centene CNC, Boston Scientific BSX, and Celestica CLS, have all raised guidance, reflecting positivity. Let’s take a closer look at what drove the positivity.

Centene Sees Big Growth

Concerning headline figures in Centene’s release, adjusted EPS of $2.90 and sales of $46.6 billion blew away our consensus estimates, with earnings up a strong 28% year-over-year. Higher than expected membership growth led the company to up its 2025 premium and service revenues guidance by $6.0 billion, which already improved by a strong 17% YoY throughout the quarter.

Notably, the company maintained its current year EPS guidance as well, providing investors with a nice sense of stability in an anxious setting. As shown below, the company has regularly crushed our expectations concerning its premium and service revenues.

Analysts adjusted their current year sales expectations accordingly following the release and guidance upgrade, with Centene now expected to post $172.8 billion in revenues in its current fiscal year. The stock also sports a favorable Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

BSX Posts Strong Segment Performance

Boston Scientific also exceeded both top and bottom line expectations, delivering a strong 12% EPS beat alongside sales that were 2.3% ahead of expectations. Shares saw a nice reaction following the release, with updated current-year sales guidance providing a notably bullish outlook.

BSX now expects FY25 sales growth in a band of 15% - 17% thanks to better-than-expected contributions from key segments, with the stock also sporting a favorable Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Analysts have adjusted their current year sales expectations accordingly, with the $19.4 billion expected up 10% over the last year.

Celestica Sales Soar

Celestica also provided a double-beat, exceeding the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate by 8% and reporting sales nearly 4% ahead of expectations. Sales grew 20% year-over-year, whereas adjusted EPS of $1.20 compared to $0.86 per share in the same period last year.

Rob Mionis, CEO, on the quarter, ‘Celestica delivered a strong first quarter in 2025, achieving revenue of $2.65 billion and non-GAAP adjusted EPS of $1.20, both surpassing the high end of our guidance ranges. This strong performance was further highlighted by our highest ever adjusted operating margin of 7.1%. With these results, and a strengthening demand outlook from our CCS customers, we are raising our full-year 2025 outlook. We now expect revenue to reach $10.85 billion, an increase from our prior $10.7 billion, and anticipate non-GAAP adjusted EPS* of $5.00, up from our previous $4.75.’

The company’s sales growth has overall been stellar over recent years, as shown below. Demand for its solutions amid the AI frenzy have been a nice tailwind, with a shift to higher-margin products also providing big benefits.

The favorable margin expansion is illustrated below. Please note that the values are tracked on a trailing twelve-month basis.

Bottom Line

The 2025 Q1 cycle is all about guidance, and all three companies above – Centene CNC, Boston Scientific BSX, and Celestica CLS – have cleared the crucial hurdle, upping their outlooks in one way or another.

The guidance upgrades are certainly notable, particularly so amid the economic uncertainty we’ve dealt with over recent months.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

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

Zacks Investment Research