American Airlines (AAL Quick QuoteAAL - Free Report) shares ended the last trading session 7.9% higher at $17.93. 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 23.8% loss over the past four weeks.

The upside was owing to encouraging comments on the Omicron variant of COVID-19 by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief medical advisor. Fauci said that the available data hinted at the fact that illness caused by Omicron was not severe. American Airlines will be hoping that air-travel demand does not get massively affected by this mutant and Fauci’s words will certainly help instill more confidence in passengers.

This world's largest airline is expected to post quarterly loss of $1.72 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +55.4%. Revenues are expected to be $9.09 billion, up 125.8% 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 American Airlines, 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 AAL 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 >>>>