Marsh (MRSH) shares rallied 4.2% in the last trading session to close at $169.03. 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 1.7% gain over the past four weeks.
Shares of Marsh rose last Friday as investors rotated into defensive, high-quality stocks amid persistent economic uncertainty and expectations that interest rates will remain higher for longer. With AI and other high-growth technology stocks seeing profit-taking, investors shifted capital toward companies with resilient earnings and stable cash flows, benefiting insurance brokers like Marsh. The stock also likely received an additional boost from quarter-end portfolio rebalancing, as fund managers adjusted their holdings before the close of the quarter.
This global professional services firm providing strategy, risk and people solutions is expected to post quarterly earnings of $2.89 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +6.3%. Revenues are expected to be $7.27 billion, up 4.2% 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 Marsh, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.6% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. And a negative trend in earnings estimate revisions doesn't usually translate into price appreciation. So, make sure to keep an eye on MRSH 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 >>>>
Marsh is a member of the Zacks Business - Services industry. One other stock in the same industry, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM), finished the last trading session 4.8% higher at $70.14. BFAM has returned 8.7% over the past month.
For Bright Horizons, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $1.21. This represents a change of +13.1% from what the company reported a year ago. Bright Horizons currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).