Heritage Financial (HFWA) Soars 5.7%: Is Further Upside Left in the Stock?
Heritage Financial (HFWA) shares ended the last trading session 5.7% higher at $21.46. 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 13.3% gain over the past four weeks.
The Federal Reserve signaled the end of the current rate hike cycle and kept the interest rates unchanged at a 22-year high of 5.25-5.5% at the end of the two-day FOMC meeting. Further, the central bank indicated three interest rate cuts by 2024 end. These developments turned investor sentiments bullish on bank stocks as high funding costs will somewhat come down next year, thus supporting spread income and margin. Also, going forward, such monetary easing is likely to propel consumer spending. Hence, the Heritage Financial stock moved higher.
This bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.47 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -26.6%. Revenues are expected to be $62 million, down 11% 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 Heritage 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 HFWA 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 >>>>
Heritage Financial belongs to the Zacks Financial - Savings and Loan industry. Another stock from the same industry, Flushing Financial (FFIC), closed the last trading session 9.8% higher at $16.18. Over the past month, FFIC has returned 3.4%.
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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Heritage Financial Corporation (HFWA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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