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Provident Financial (PROV) Moves 6.5% Higher: Will This Strength Last?

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Provident Financial (PROV - Free Report) shares rallied 6.5% in the last trading session to close at $12.89. 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 5.7% 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 three interest rate cuts by 2024-end.

These favorable developments turned investor sentiments bullish on bank stocks as high funding costs being faced by the industry players will somewhat come down next year. This will support net interest income and margin growth. Hence, the PROV stock moved higher.

This holding company for Provident Savings Bank is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.26 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -21.2%. Revenues are expected to be $10 million, down 3.3% 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 Provident Financial, 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 PROV 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 >>>>

Provident Financial is part of the Zacks Financial - Savings and Loan industry. Flushing Financial (FFIC - Free Report) , another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 1.8% higher at $16.94. FFIC has returned 19.3% in the past month.

For Flushing Financial, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.23. This represents a change of -59.7% from what the company reported a year ago. Flushing Financial currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).


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