eBay Inc. EBAY is set to report first-quarter 2016 results on Apr 26. Last quarter, the company posted a positive earnings surprise of 6.98%. Moreover, it surpassed estimates in all the four trailing quarters, bringing the average surprise to 9.30%.Let us see how things are shaping up for this announcement.Factors to ConsidereBay delivered decent fourth-quarter results, with both earnings and revenues beating the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate.Management sounded upbeat about the upcoming quarter and mentioned several initiatives including the collection of data from sellers, application of artificial intelligence for a better user experience, increased use of social media to drive traffic and focus on a discovery-based user experience, to mention a few.While the separation from PayPal (PYPL) resulted in the loss of a good growth engine, eBay seeks to attract customers to its online properties, engage them and thus generate revenues.For the first quarter of 2016, eBay expects revenues to grow 3–5% on an Fx neutral basis to $2.05 billion to $2.10 billion. Non-GAAP earnings are expected within 43–45 cents.Earnings WhispersOur proven model does not conclusively show that eBay will beat on earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.Zacks ESP: Both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate stand at 39 cents. Hence, the difference is 0.00%.Zacks Rank: eBay carries a Zacks Rank #3, which increases the predictive power. But the company’s 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.Stocks to ConsiderHere are some companies which you may consider, as our model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:Barracuda Networks, Inc. CUDA, with an Earnings ESP of +200.0% and a Zacks Rank #1. The company is slated to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2016 earnings results on Apr 26, 2016Align Technology Inc. ALGN, with an Earnings ESP of +12.82% and a Zacks Rank #1. The company is set to report first-quarter 2016 earnings results on Apr 28, 2016Canadian Pacific Railway Limited CP, with an Earnings ESP of +0.48% and a Zacks Rank #1. The company’s second-quarter fiscal 2016 earnings release date is Apr 27, 2016.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CDN PAC RLWY (CP): Free Stock Analysis Report EBAY INC (EBAY): Free Stock Analysis Report ALIGN TECH INC (ALGN): Free Stock Analysis Report BARRACUDA NTWRK (CUDA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research