Citizens & Northern (CZNC) Surges 6.3%: Is This an Indication of Further Gains?
Citizens & Northern (CZNC) shares soared 6.3% in the last trading session to close at $18.52. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 2.8% gain over the past four weeks.
Shares of Citizens & Northern rallied for the fourth straight trading session. With the Federal Reserve keeping an eye on unemployment reports and cooling inflation numbers, market participants are projecting interest rate cuts as early as during the September FOMC meeting. Thus, this is a positive development for banks that are already reeling under the Fed’s aggressive monetary tightening. As the rates come down, so will banks’ funding costs. Hence, the investors turned bullish on banking sector stocks, driving CZNC higher.
This bank is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.37 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -5.1%. Revenues are expected to be $26.9 million, down 0.4% from the year-ago quarter.
Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.
For Citizens & Northern, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 3.5% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. And a positive trend in earnings estimate revision usually translates into price appreciation. So, make sure to keep an eye on CZNC going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Citizens & Northern belongs to the Zacks Banks - Northeast industry. Another stock from the same industry, Bank OZK (OZK), closed the last trading session 4.8% higher at $43.76. Over the past month, OZK has returned 8.1%.
Bank OZK's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -1.5% over the past month to $1.51. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +2.7%. Bank OZK currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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Citizens & Northern Corp (CZNC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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