What Happened?

Shares of equipment distributor Watsco (NYSE: WSO) jumped 8.3% in the morning session after the company reported strong fourth-quarter 2024 results, which blew past analysts' sales, operating profits, and earnings estimates. Sales rose 9.4% y/y, fueled by double-digit growth in residential HVAC equipment. Zooming out, we think this was a good quarter with some key areas of upside.

Is now the time to buy Watsco? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

What The Market Is Telling Us

Watsco’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 2 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

Watsco is up 12.6% since the beginning of the year, and at $527.68 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $568.78 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Watsco’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $3,094.

Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we’ve identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.