Northern Technologies (NTIC Quick QuoteNTIC - Free Report) shares soared 6.4% in the last trading session to close at $15.30. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 1.5% loss over the past four weeks.

NTIC’s shares are heading higher in anticipation of strong first-quarter results. The company’s results are expected to be supported by strong sales for its Zerust business on the back of higher demand and continued recovery of Natur-Tec sales, aided by the reopening of the economies around the world. It is expected to benefit from favorable demand in most global markets and efforts to diversify sales across its product categories, end markets and geographies.

This rust and corrosion prevention company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.18 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +38.5%. Revenues are expected to be $16.9 million, up 32.2% 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 Northern Technologies, 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 NTIC 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 >>>>