First Merchants (FRME Quick QuoteFRME - Free Report) shares rallied 7.1% in the last trading session to close at $36.59. 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 9.3% gain over the past four weeks.

After 11 interest rate hikes, the Fed's decision to pause rate hikes for the third month drove bullish sentiments across markets amid the optimism of easing inflation pressures. With this, the interest rates remain at a 22-year high of 5.25-5.5%. Further, the central bank indicated three interest rate cuts by 2024-end. These developments turned investor sentiment bullish on bank stocks, as high funding costs faced by the industry players are expected to decline in the next year, supporting spread income and margins. Hence, the FRME stock gained.

This bank is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.87 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -26.9%. Revenues are expected to be $158.5 million, down 8.4% 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 First Merchants, 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 FRME 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 >>>>

First Merchants is part of the Zacks Banks - Midwest industry. Enterprise Financial Services (EFSC Quick QuoteEFSC - Free Report) , another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 6% higher at $44.30. EFSC has returned 6.5% in the past month.

For Enterprise Financial Services, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $1.19. This represents a change of -24.7% from what the company reported a year ago. Enterprise Financial Services currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).