Chicago, IL – September 22, 2009- Kevin Matras shows how to find stocks poised for both earnings and sales surprises. Highlighted stocks in this week’s article include Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), KB Home (NYSE: KBH), Standard Microsystems Corp. (NASDAQ: SMSC) and Xyratex Ltd. (NASDAQ: XRTX). Click here for the full story exclusively on Zacks.com: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5528.

Screen of the Week written by Kevin Matras of Zacks Investment Research:

Third-quarter earnings are going to be important, and the season kicks off shortly.

But while earnings indeed will be the focus of attention, so will sales - and now more so than ever.

Businesses have done a great job in cutting costs and slashing expenses, which has helped more and more of them beat on the bottom line.

In fact, a larger number of companies have posted positive surprises in each of the

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Third-quarter earnings are going to be important, and the season kicks off shortly.

< ?DART(15);?> But while earnings indeed will be the focus of attention, so will sales - and now more so than ever.

Businesses have done a great job in cutting costs and slashing expenses, which has helped more and more of them beat on the bottom line.

In fact, a larger number of companies have posted positive surprises in each of the last 3 reported quarters:

For the quarter ending 9/08: 286 companies in the S&P 500 posted positive EPS Surprises

For the quarter ending 12/08: 293 companies in the S&P 500 posted positive EPS Surprises

For the quarter ending 3/09: 312 companies in the S&P 500 posted positive EPS Surprises

And for the quarter ending 6/09: 345 companies in the S&P 500 posted positive EPS Surprises

This ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 21, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week’s list includes AutoZone (AZO), Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY), General Mills (GIS), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN), Paychex (PAYX), CarMax (KMX), Research in Motion (RIMM) and Texas Industries (TXI). To see more earnings analysis, visit http://at.zacks.com/?id=3207.

Every day, Zacks.com makes 4 stock picks available, free of charge. To see them, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5612.

This Week's Events

We will get another look at initial third-quarter results with 11 S&P 500 companies reporting. Included in this group are AutoZone (AZO), Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY), General Mills (GIS), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN) and Paychex (PAYX). A total of 33 companies are on the calendar.

The Fed will hold a 2-day

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We will get another look at initial third-quarter results with 11 S&P 500 companies reporting. Included in this group are AutoZone (AZO), Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY), General Mills (GIS), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN) and Paychex (PAYX). A total of 33 companies are on the calendar.

The Fed will hold a 2-day meeting starting on Tuesday. No change in rates is expected at either this or the November meeting. Traders will be looking for insight about the pace of recovery and updates on the various bailout programs.

In addition to the Fed meeting, the economic calendar features August Leading Indicators and home sales data.

Monday: August Leading Indicators Tuesday: Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index Wednesday: FOMC rate decision (about 2:10 pm), weekly crude inventories, weekly mortgage applications Thursday: August existing home sales, weekly initial jobless claims, weekly natural gas inventories Friday: August new home

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Documents brought to light by key by congressional investigators hightlight real disagreement between top-level U.S. Federal Reserve officials about how it should address the Bank of America Corp.(NYSE:BAC) acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. are almost certain to fuel the ongoing congressional debate over the central bank’s push to expand its authority over the U.S. financial system.

This growing concern manifested itself Thursday, when Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke; was grilled by Capitol Hill lawmakers during a congressional hearing looking into the central bank’s conduct in BofA’s buyout of Merrill Lynch. Bernanke’s failure to resolve some of the most-pointed questions posed by congressional leaders – (especially Republicans) who wanted to discover whether the Fed overstepped its authority and interfered with merger-related decisions – may undermine a proposed financial system overhaul that would imbue the central bank with broad authority over big U.S. financial institutions. One example: In

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Documents brought to light by key by congressional investigators hightlight real disagreement between top-level U.S. Federal Reserve officials about how it should address the Bank of America Corp.(NYSE:BAC) acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. are almost certain to fuel the ongoing congressional debate over the central bank’s push to expand its authority over the U.S. financial system.

This growing concern manifested itself Thursday, when Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke; was grilled by Capitol Hill lawmakers during a congressional hearing looking into the central bank’s conduct in BofA’s buyout of Merrill Lynch. Bernanke’s failure to resolve some of the most-pointed questions posed by congressional leaders – (especially Republicans) who wanted to discover whether the Fed overstepped its authority and interfered with merger-related decisions – may undermine a proposed financial system overhaul that would imbue the central bank with broad authority over big U.S. financial institutions. One example: In

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Corporate earnings will take center stage again this week as certain financials hope to follow last week’s upbeat announcement by banking giant Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) with some decent earnings reports of their own.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) reports tomorrow (Tuesday), while JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) reports Thursday, and Citigroup Inc (C) reports on Friday.

While the chief executives of several of the largest U.S. banks were quick to announce favorable showings for the first two months of the year, analysts are concerned that the strong showings may not have carried over into March, and that the performances of some of these money-centered banks may disappoint.

Contradictions hit the financials last week as diverse reports about Morgan Stanley (MS) and Wells Fargo brought even more confusion to a sector that

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Originally incorporated in the U.K. in 2003, Index Oil and Gas Inc. is an early stage oil and gas exploration and production company. Trading on the OTCBB, they have a current market capitalization of $34.32 million. The company has their head office in Houston, Texas, as well as an office in Bath, England. Their oil and gas prospects are in Texas, Louisiana, and Kansas.

In 2007, Index successfully focused on lower risk properties to build reserves and near term cash flow. For fiscal year 2008, Index focused on a balanced and risk-managed portfolio of prospects. The goal was to increase their reserves and production, and their efforts did pay off. Fiscal year 2008 saw the company’s revenue up 273 percent over the previous fiscal year. In addition, production was up 255 percent and reserves were up 100 percent in fiscal year 2008.

The company’s new stage of development is higher-impact wells comprising

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Index Oil and Gas, Inc. engages in the acquisition, exploration, appraisal, development, production, and sale of oil and gas properties, primarily in the prolific petroleum regions of Kansas and the onshore Gulf Coast, mainly in Texas and Louisiana. As of March 31, 2008, the company’s estimated total proved oil and gas reserves were approximately 219.469 thousands of barrels of oil equivalent. Index Oil and Gas was founded in 2003 and has offices in Houston, Texas and Bath, England.

Index is focused on working with partners to efficiently build a broad portfolio of producing properties, whose risk characteristics are carefully analyzed and managed. Because of careful risk management, the company has an enviable drilling record with excellent upside potential. The management team is particularly strong, drawing on worldwide and local area experience. Index intends to grow its existing asset base and revenues through further selective investment in the

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