CRA (CRAI) Moves 5.9% Higher: Will This Strength Last?

CRA International (CRAI) shares rallied 5.9% in the last trading session to close at $188.94. 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 11.1% loss over the past four weeks.

The stock is benefiting from a favorable market backdrop, as investors rotate into high-quality consulting names amid improving sentiment.

This consulting firm is expected to post quarterly earnings of $2.05 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +1%. Revenues are expected to be $190.02 million, up 7.7% 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 CRA, 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 CRAI 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 >>>>

CRA is a member of the Zacks Consulting Services industry. One other stock in the same industry, Stantec (STN), finished the last trading session 1.9% lower at $99.08. STN has returned 7.1% over the past month.

For Stantec, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed +0.7% over the past month to $0.87. This represents a change of +10.1% from what the company reported a year ago. Stantec currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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