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Strength Seen in Forward Air (FWRD): Can Its 6.2% Jump Turn into More Strength?

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Forward Air (FWRD - Free Report) shares ended the last trading session 6.2% higher at $40.16. 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 3.8% gain over the past four weeks.

The increase in share price followed reports that Forward Air has retained two prominent investment bankers to sell the company. Many FWRD shareholders including alternative asset manager Alta Fox have been pressurizing the company to engage in a formal sales process following FWRD's messy meger with Omni Logistics. The merger closed earlier this year but not before FWRD and Omni Logistics were involved in a bitter legal dispute. Alta Fox and many other FWRD shareholders suggest that the best path for Forward Air  is to seek new ownership and management.

This contractor for the air cargo industry is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.05 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -105.1%. Revenues are expected to be $656.07 million, up 58.7% 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 Forward Air, 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 FWRD 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 >>>>

Forward Air is part of the Zacks Transportation - Truck industry. Werner Enterprises (WERN - Free Report) , another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 1.5% lower at $37.44. WERN has returned 1.3% in the past month.

Werner's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -11.3% over the past month to $0.22. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of -47.6%. Werner currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).


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