Strength Seen in First Community (FCCO): Can Its 7.9% Jump Turn into More Strength?
First Community (FCCO) shares rallied 7.9% in the last trading session to close at $17.40. 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 8.9% loss over the past four weeks.
After getting hammered because of industry-wide concern related to commercial real estate (CRE) loans, shares of First Community are showing signs of improvement. The company’s manageable CRE loan exposure and the Federal Reserve’s signal of rate cuts later this year seem to have turned investors bullish on the FCCO stock.
This holding company for First Community Bank is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.34 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -24.4%. Revenues are expected to be $14.83 million, down 0.7% 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 First Community, 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 FCCO going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
First Community is part of the Zacks Banks - Southeast industry. City Holding (CHCO), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 2.9% higher at $104.75. CHCO has returned 1.4% in the past month.
City Holding's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $1.84. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of -9.4%. City Holding currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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First Community Corporation (FCCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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