Splunk shares rallied 9.1% in the last trading session to close at $124.97. This move can be attributable to notable volume with a higher number of shares being traded than in a typical session. This compares to the stock's 6.6% loss over the past four weeks.

Splunk’s shares gained more than 9% on Feb 14 amid industry grapevines that Cisco Systems (CSCO Quick QuoteCSCO - Free Report) made a $20 billion buyout offer for the software company. However, neither Splunk nor Cisco has officially commented on the story. Splunk’s market capitalization reached $19.8 billion at the end of the day.

This maker of software that helps companies collect and analyze internal data is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.19 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -150%. Revenues are expected to be $773.88 million, up 3.9% 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 Splunk, 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 SPLK 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 >>>>