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TowneBank (TOWN) Surges 6.3%: Is This an Indication of Further Gains?

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TowneBank (TOWN - Free Report) shares rallied 6.3% in the last trading session to close at $30.19. 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% gain over the past four weeks.

The Federal Reserve signaled end of the current rate cycle and kept the interest rates unchanged at 22-year high of 5.25-5.5% at the end of two-day FOMC meeting. Further, the central bank indicated 75 basis points cut in rates by 2024-end. These developments attributed to bullish investor sentiments as high funding costs being faced by banks will likely come down somewhat next year, thus support net interest income and margin. Thus, the TOWN stock moved higher.

This community bank is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.48 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -26.2%. Revenues are expected to be $164.84 million, down 6% 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 TowneBank, 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 TOWN going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

TowneBank belongs to the Zacks Banks - Southeast industry. Another stock from the same industry, United Bankshares (UBSI - Free Report) , closed the last trading session 5.6% higher at $37.07. Over the past month, UBSI has returned 7.4%.

United Bankshares' consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.67. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of -9.5%. United Bankshares currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).


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