Loews Corporation L is slated to report second-quarter 2018 results on Jul 30 before the market opens. In the first quarter of 2018, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 14.10%.Let’s see, how things are shaping up for this announcement.Loews’ second quarter results are likely to have benefited from a solid performance at CNA Financial CNA and Loews Hotels.Focus on core competencies in commercial property casualty insurance plus favorable rate changes and a growing new business should continue to drive results at CNA Financial. A benign cat environment is expected to have favored its combined ratio.CNA Financial continues to efficiently manage its long-term care book of business through prudent product claim management, thus mitigating risks as well as effecting rate increase.Loews is intensifying focus on highly profitable and distinguished hotels in the upscale market. This, coupled with focus on properties located in Orlando, as operations there have been generating superior returns, likely have benefited Loews Hotels.Boardwalk Pipeline BWP is expected to have delivered better numbers on the strength of its growth projects. However, lower day rate and lower rigs working are expected to have weighed on Diamond Offshore DO segment. However, higher contract drilling revenues and cost containment should have limited this downside.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 73 cents, down 3.9% year over year.A lower tax incidence owing to a drop in the tax rate might provide an additional boost to the bottom line. Share buyback should have added to this upside.Loews Corporation Price and EPS Surprise Loews Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Loews Corporation QuoteWhat Our Quantitative Model StatesOur proven model does not conclusively show that Loews is likely to beat on earnings in the impending quarterly results. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a favorable Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. But that is not the case here as you will see below.Earnings ESP: Loews has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%. This is because both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the Most Accurate Estimate are pegged at 73 cents. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.Zacks Rank: Loews has a Zacks Rank #3, which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the company’s 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.We caution against all Sell-rated stocks (#4 or 5) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.5 Medical Stocks to Buy NowZacks names 5 companies poised to ride a medical breakthrough that is targeting cures for leukemia, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, and other conditions.New products in this field are already generating substantial revenue and even more wondrous treatments are in the pipeline. Early investors could realize exceptional profits.Click here to see the 5 stocks >>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 Loews Corporation (L): Free Stock Analysis Report CNA Financial Corporation (CNA): Free Stock Analysis Report Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (DO): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research