BJ's Restaurants (BJRI) shares ended the last trading session 6.3% higher at $59.86. 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 21.1% gain over the past four weeks.
BJ's Restaurants stock appreciated as investors remained optimistic about the company's improving operating performance and long-term growth prospects. Positive sentiment has been supported by stronger restaurant traffic, menu innovation, margin expansion initiatives and expectations for continued earnings growth.
This restaurant chain is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.86 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -11.3%. Revenues are expected to be $374.34 million, up 2.4% 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 BJ's Restaurants, 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 BJRI 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 >>>>
BJ's Restaurants is part of the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry. Kura Sushi (KRUS), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 7.8% higher at $59.12. KRUS has returned -4.2% in the past month.
For Kura Sushi, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed +11.4% over the past month to -$0.05. This represents a change of -200% from what the company reported a year ago. Kura Sushi currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).