BGC Partners shares ended the last trading session 5.2% higher at $5.50. 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 15.9% gain over the past four weeks.

BGC Partners scored a fifth consecutive day of price increase, driven by optimism over the company's affirmation of first-quarter 2021 outlook. It expects to deliver pre-tax adjusted earnings of $102 million to $122 million, compared with $112.1 million reported in the first quarter of 2020. Notably, the stock touched a new 52-week high of $5.67 in last day's trading.

Price and Consensus

This brokerage company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.18 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -5.3%. Revenues are expected to be $566 million, down 6.2% 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 BGC Partners, 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 BGCP 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 >>>>