Apple Inc. (AAPL), Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (ULTA) & Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI): 3 Predictions for Next Week

3.Kroger will beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates
Some stocks are just flat-out better than others.

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is a popular grocery-store chain. Unlike many of its rival supermarket operators that have had to sell off assets or slash their dividends, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) has been a steady performer that comes through with annual payout increases.

Another thing it does is make analysts look like perpetual underachievers. If analysts say the company posted a profit of $0.88 a share in its latest quarter, I’ll whip out a “greater than” sign. History’s on my side!

One of my best tricks to beating the market is finding stocks that perpetually land ahead of the prognosticators. Let’s go over the past year of earnings reports.

Source: Thomson Reuters.

Things can change, of course.

Grocers operate on razor-thin margins, and wild fluctuations in prices or the inability to pass increases on to end users can sting the bottom line. However, it’s hard to argue against the trend. Everything seems to be falling into place for another market-thumping quarter on the bottom line.

Three for the road
Well, there are three predictions right there. Let’s see how I fare this week.

The article 3 Predictions for Next Week originally appeared on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA).

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