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Strength Seen in Alector (ALEC): Can Its 6.0% Jump Turn into More Strength?

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Alector (ALEC - Free Report) shares ended the last trading session 6% higher at $6.40. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 25.3% loss over the past four weeks.

The FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to the company’s investigational candidate, latozinemab, on Feb 7 for the potential treatment of frontotemporal dementia with a progranulin gene mutation. This might have driven the share price rally.

This biotechnology company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.79 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -25.4%. Revenues are expected to be $8.35 million, down 42.2% 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 Alector, 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 ALEC 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 >>>>

Alector belongs to the Zacks Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. Another stock from the same industry, Castle Biosciences, Inc. (CSTL - Free Report) , closed the last trading session 2.2% lower at $23.46. Over the past month, CSTL has returned 14.5%.

Castle Biosciences, Inc.'s consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -3.8% over the past month to -$0.84. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of -7.7%. Castle Biosciences, Inc. currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).


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