Citizens (CIA) shares ended the last trading session 7.2% higher at $6.38. 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 14.2% gain over the past four weeks.
Citizens is well positioned to grow banking on solid customer base and strong presence in underserved niche market, streamlined sales process, new product introductions and product enhancements. Its low risk business model, strong balance sheet underpinned by a prudent Investment portfolio mix, reserving as well as capital and liquidity adds to the upside.
It has strengthened its franchise through investments in digital banking, disciplined loan underwriting, and expansion of fee-based businesses, reducing reliance on net interest income. As interest rates stabilize and loan demand gradually recovers, Citizens is well positioned to benefit from improving net interest margins and higher capital deployment through share repurchases and dividends.
Its strong deposit franchise, healthy capital position, and focus on operating efficiency support sustainable profitability.
This insurance company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.07 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -46.2%. Revenues are expected to be $63.85 million, up 1.9% 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 Citizens, 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 CIA 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 >>>>
Citizens is a member of the Zacks Insurance - Life Insurance industry. One other stock in the same industry, Reinsurance Group (RGA), finished the last trading session 3.3% higher at $215.28. RGA has returned 1.9% over the past month.
Reinsurance Group's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $6.54. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +38.6%. Reinsurance Group currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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Citizens, Inc. (CIA): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).