Utz Brands (UTZ) shares ended the last trading session 88.7% higher at $14.06. 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 8.8% gain over the past four weeks.
Utz Brands shares surged 88.7% after the company agreed to be acquired by Intersnack Group in an all-cash transaction that values the stock at a substantial premium to its prior closing price. The partnership with the founding family and access to Intersnack’s global resources likely reinforced investor confidence in UTZ’s long-term strategic positioning.
This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.18 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +5.9%. Revenues are expected to be $374.95 million, up 2.3% 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 Utz Brands, 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 UTZ 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 >>>>
Utz Brands belongs to the Zacks Food - Miscellaneous industry. Another stock from the same industry, Darling Ingredients (DAR), closed the last trading session 0.7% higher at $63.91. Over the past month, DAR has returned 19.3%.
Darling's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -3% over the past month to $1.28. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +1322.2%. Darling currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).