Assertio (ASRT) Moves 17.0% Higher: Will This Strength Last?

Assertio (ASRT) shares ended the last trading session 17% higher at $21.61. 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 3.9% loss over the past four weeks.

Shares of Assertio Holdings, Inc. jumped after Garda Therapeutics raised its buyout offer to $21.80 per share in cash under a revised merger agreement, bringing the total deal value to $153.2 million. The new bid is 21.1% higher than the earlier offer and reflects a significant premium to the stock’s prior trading levels, making the deal more attractive to shareholders. The increase, along with firm financing and a competitive bidding process, boosted confidence that the transaction will go through, pushing the stock price closer to the updated offer level.

This drugmaker is expected to post quarterly loss of $1.91 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +9.1%. Revenues are expected to be $10.34 million, down 61% 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 Assertio, 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 ASRT 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 >>>>

Assertio is part of the Zacks Medical - Drugs industry. Journey Medical Corporation (DERM), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 1.4% lower at $5.12. DERM has returned 4.9% in the past month.

For Journey Medical, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at -$0.07. This represents a change of +61.1% from what the company reported a year ago. Journey Medical currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

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

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