Investors will start to turn their focus toward earnings next week as the earliest companies begin to report results for the first quarter ended March 31. Morgan Stanley said three top picks are the most likely to deliver big beats. In a note out Friday, Morgan Stanley’s quantitative equity research team said that Western Digital , Citigroup and RTX are most likely to surprise to the upside, topping Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimates. Western Digital had the highest score, landing in the 96th percentile, in the investment bank’s Earnings Surprise Composite model. Morgan Stanley calculates the ranking by leveraging signals from the earnings forecast landscape, earnings equality, and broader forecast dynamics. A shortage of memory storage chips as a result of the buildout of artificial intelligence drove up Western Digital shares by nearly 900% in the past year, and 77% in 2026 alone. WDC 1Y mountain Western Digital over the past year San Jose, California-based Western Digital is set to report financial results for the latest quarter on April 23. Western Digital earnings and revenue topped Street estimates when it last reported, in late January, sending the stock down more than 10% the next day. Over the following two days, Western Digital resumed its ascent, jumping 16%. Analysts polled by FactSet currently expect Western Digital earned $2.36 per share on revenue of $3.23 billion in its most recent three months. Citigroup was the most prominent financial stock on Morgan Stanley’s screen, with an earnings surprise composite score in the 93rd percentile. While Citi shares have seen a robust rally the past three years, jumping 158% excluding reinvested dividends, the bank is little changed in 2026. When first quarter earnings are reported on April 14, analysts polled by FactSet expect Citi to report $2.67 in earnings per share on revenue of $23.34 billion. RTX, parent of Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon and Collins Aerospace, also came in at the 81st percentile. The defense contractor initially rose after the start of the U.S.-Iran war, but is now fractionally lower since hostilities began Feb. 28. RTX mountain 2026-02-27 RTX since the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war When it reports its first-quarter earnings on April 21, analysts polled by FactSet expect RTX to deliver $1.50 in earnings per share on $21.39 billion in revenue.
