James Hardie (JHX) shares rallied 8.3% in the last trading session to close at $21.75. 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 3% gain over the past four weeks.
The rally was driven by a sentiment-led rebound as investors refocused on the company’s higher fiscal 2026 guidance, progress in integrating AZEK Company Inc., and the potential upside from upcoming earnings.
This fiber cement maker is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.29 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -19.4%. Revenues are expected to be $1.39 billion, up 43% 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 James Hardie, 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 JHX 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 >>>>
James Hardie belongs to the Zacks Building Products - Miscellaneous industry. Another stock from the same industry, Construction Partners (ROAD), closed the last trading session 12% higher at $125.64. Over the past month, ROAD has returned -1%.
For Construction Partners, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed +2.3% over the past month to -$0.04. This represents a change of -150% from what the company reported a year ago. Construction Partners currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
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James Hardie Industries PLC. (JHX): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).