2 Top-Performing Stocks To Watch After Earnings: AI, UNFI

Image Source: Outside of Adobe ( – ), there aren’t many headline names in this week’s earnings lineup but C3.ai ( – ) and United Natural Foods ( – ) are two stocks to keep an eye on after reporting favorable quarterly results.With appealing growth narratives among the tech and consumer staples sectors respectively, C3.ai and United Natural Foods have been two of the stock market’s top performers this year and their rallies could continue.  
 
C3.ai – AI
 Stock Price: $38Enterprise AI software provider C3.ai has been one the hottest stocks in the last three months, soaring over +60% and now sitting on +32% gains for the year. Of course, market demand and high sentiment toward artificial intelligence have contributed to the rally. To that point, C3.ai has a strategic partnership with Microsoft ( – )  as its preferred AI application provider. Most intriguing is that C3.ai’s promising revenue growth has continued. Reporting results for its fiscal second quarter on Monday, C3.ai’s Q2 sales beat Zacks estimates by 3% and expanded 29% year over year to $94.34 million compared to $73.23 million in the comparative quarter.Going public in 2020, C3.ai has moved closer to showing its future earnings potential with Q2 EPS at an adjusted loss of -$0.06 which beat expectations of -$0.16 and rose from -$0.13 per share a year ago.  
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
 
United Natural Foods – UNFI
 Stock Price: $28As the leading distributor of natural, organic, and specialty food and non-food products, United Natural’s stock has seen quite a rebound in 2024. Soaring +75% YTD, the rally in UNFI may still have legs after United Natural reconfirmed its increased profitability.On Tuesday, United Natural reported its fiscal first quarter results with Q1 EPS spiking to $0.16 versus an adjusted loss of -$0.04 a share in the prior-year quarter. Furthermore, this crushed the Zack EPS Consensus of $0.01. Quarterly sales of $7.87 billion came in 3% above estimates of $7.61 billion and increased from $7.55 billion a year ago.Reassuringly, United Natural’s annual earnings are now expected to climb to $0.66 per share in its current fiscal 2025 compared to EPS of $0.14 in FY24. Plus, FY26 EPS is projected to soar another 55% to $1.03 based on Zacks estimates.  
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
 
Bottom Line
 Trading under $40 a share, there could be more upside in C3.ai and United Natural Foods stock as earnings estimate revisions are likely to trend higher in the coming weeks. At the moment, United Natural Foods stock boasts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) with C3.ai shares sporting a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).More By This Author:Macy’s Lags Q3 Earnings EstimatesBear Of The Day: Ford Motor Is AI The Future For Salesforce? Insights From Recent Earnings