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Strength Seen in Northwest Bancshares (NWBI): Can Its 5.5% Jump Turn into More Strength?

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Northwest Bancshares (NWBI - Free Report) shares rallied 5.5% in the last trading session to close at $12.28. 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 2.2% 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. The central bank also 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 NWBI stock moved higher.

This holding company for Northwest Savings Bank is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.27 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -10%. Revenues are expected to be $133.06 million, down 8.2% 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 Northwest Bancshares, 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 NWBI 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 >>>>

Northwest Bancshares is a member of the Zacks Financial - Savings and Loan industry. One other stock in the same industry, Brookline Bancorp (BRKL - Free Report) , finished the last trading session 6.5% higher at $10.86. BRKL has returned 10.6% over the past month.

For Brookline, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.23. This represents a change of -41% from what the company reported a year ago. Brookline currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).


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