Skyward Specialty Insurance (SKWD) shares soared 6.8% in the last trading session to close at $59.19. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 23.7% gain over the past four weeks.
SKWD shares climbed last Friday as investors remained optimistic about the company's growth prospects. The company's disciplined underwriting, steady premium growth across specialty insurance lines and consistent profitability have reinforced confidence in its business model and earnings outlook. Investors also remained encouraged by the integration of Apollo, which is expected to strengthen Skyward Specialty's earnings profile and expand its fee-based business. Sentiment was further supported by the company's inclusion in several Russell value indexes, including the Russell 2000 Value Index, as part of FTSE Russell's June reconstitution.
This property and casualty insurance holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.18 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +32.6%. Revenues are expected to be $460.65 million, up 44% 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 Skyward, 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 SKWD going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Skyward is part of the Zacks Insurance - Property and Casualty industry. Progressive (PGR), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 4.1% higher at $224.34. PGR has returned 10.8% in the past month.
For Progressive, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed +18.9% over the past month to $4.47. This represents a change of -8.4% from what the company reported a year ago. Progressive currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc. (SKWD): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).