Yahoo Finance Washington Trust (WASH) Surges 6.5%: Is This an Indication of Further Gains?
Washington Trust Bancorp (WASH) shares rallied 6.5% in the last trading session to close at $28.21. This move can be attributable to notable volume with a higher number of shares being traded than in a typical session. This compares to the stock's 2% gain over the past four weeks.
Shares of Washington Trust Bancorp 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 WASH higher.
This holding company for The Washington Trust Co. Is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.49 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -25.8%. Revenues are expected to be $46.06 million, down 3.7% 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 Washington Trust, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on WASH 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 >>>>
Washington Trust is part of the Zacks Banks - Northeast industry. Camden National (CAC), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 5.6% higher at $35.24. CAC has returned 3.2% in the past month.
For Camden National , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.71. This represents a change of -16.5% from what the company reported a year ago. Camden National currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
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
Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc. (WASH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Camden National Corporation (CAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
