Virtus Investment Partners VRTS shares ended the last trading session 8.8% higher at $147.58. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 4.5% loss over the past four weeks.
VRTS stock rose in the last trading day as lower treasury yields and strong equity markets has improved sentiment toward asset managers, raising expectations for higher fee income from growing assets under management.
This asset management company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $5.95 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -4.8%. Revenues are expected to be $182.47 million, down 4.5% from the year-ago quarter.
While earnings and revenue growth expectations are important in evaluating the potential strength in a stock, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
For Virtus, 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 VRTS 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 >>>>
Virtus is part of the Zacks Financial - Investment Management industry. Invesco IVZ, another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 1.1% higher at $26.16. IVZ has returned -7.8% in the past month.
Invesco's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -2.5% over the past month to $0.6. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +66.7%. Invesco currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).