These 2 Must-Watch Firms Could Get a Boost From Earnings Reports

Key Points

• With October earnings season poised to begin shortly, some companies are getting a head start by releasing their reports early in the month.
• The first full week of October will see reports from AZZ and Unity Bancorp, two firms representing a potential value play but with lots of potential for growth.
• Both of these stocks have risen significantly throughout the year so far but have dipped in recent weeks—a strong earnings report could inspire investors to change course and help to lock in gains.

With the next major earnings season expected to take place in mid-October 2025, a handful of firms are getting ahead of the action later in the month by releasing results before that time. It's not always clear how a company's earnings report will impact its share price—sometimes firms see a price dip even when they post generally strong financials because investors are looking for a specific key metric.

While it's difficult to say not only how the two companies below will perform when they release earnings—let alone how the market will react—both will release earnings to an eager pool of analysts and investors that believe there could be ample room for share price appreciation under the right conditions. Investors should familiarize themselves with these firms to be able to catch a potential upside swing.

An Undervalued Industrial Gem Poised for More Growth

Metal finishing firm AZZ Inc. NYSE: AZZ has had an impressive year, surging by 29% year-to-date (YTD) despite a slight drop of about 7% in the last month. Fresh off its acquisition of Canton Galvanizing, the firm is bolstering its spin galvanizing business and bulking up its base of industrial, infrastructure, and construction space customers in the significant market of Ohio. As part of a larger strategic shift in the company's operations, it is also expanding its volume with a new aluminum coating facility in Missouri while reducing its debt by selling off some of its infrastructure solutions assets. Despite its relatively small size—AZZ is valued at around $3.2 billion—this firm has emerged as a small industrial stock of note in 2025.

With the company's upcoming second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings, investors will look to see if it can continue the strong earnings beat it achieved in the prior period. External factors suggest this could be likely: AZZ is positioned to benefit from a cyclical shift toward industrials, increasing efforts among companies to reshore their operations, and strong infrastructure spending. The Missouri facility should help to build AZZ's margin starting in this quarter, an improvement made all the better by the company's other achievements in its efficiency.

AZZ's recent price dip suggests a special opportunity for investors to buy shares at a discount. The company's P/E ratio of 12.4 is close to the lowest it has been in multiple years and well below the average P/E ratio across the industrials sector. These latest share price movements have not impacted analysts' lofty expectations for AZZ, either: the company is still expected to boost its earnings by more than 13% in the next year, and eight out of 11 analysts support AZZ shares as a Buy.

Pre-Earnings Value Play With Growing Top- and Bottom-Line Figures, Dividend

Unity Bancorp Inc. NASDAQ: UNTY, a regional bank holding corporation serving Pennsylvania, already has a lower P/E ratio than most of the rest of the financials sector, at 10.0. This is despite the fact that shares of UNTY have surged by more than 53% YTD. Like AZZ above, though, UNTY stock has recently dipped, falling nearly 18% in the last month, to present a unique buy opportunity ahead of earnings.

In its last quarterly report, Unity posted modest beats on both top- and bottom-line results, driven by strong origination activity in its residential and commercial lending operations. The bank also reported stable credit quality and a solid mix of deposits and loans. Given the strong market response to this update last quarter—the stock climbed by almost a quarter in the span of just a few days surrounding its earnings report—investors might expect a similar reaction if the company once again posts good news in October.

To add to the appeal, Unity recently boosted its dividend by 7%, reaching a yield of 1.21% and a healthy payout ratio of just over 12%. It's no surprise that analysts are excited about Unity's prospects heading into the earnings season, with a unanimous Buy rating from all three analysts reviewing the stock. Further, Unity's recent share price dip could reverse, with analysts calling for more than 14% in upside going forward. A strong earnings report could be the catalyst that drives a spike of this size in share price, or potentially even larger.