Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Strength Seen in Huntington Bancshares (HBAN): Can Its 6.6% Jump Turn into More Strength?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Huntington Bancshares (HBAN - Free Report) shares rallied 6.6% in the last trading session to close at $13.89. 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 6.1% loss over the past four weeks.

Yesterday, the U.S. consumer inflation for September was reported to be higher than expected, up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. This has likely increased investors’ confidence in a 75-basis-point rate hike when the Fed next meets on Nov 1, with 97.8% of market participants believing in a chance of that move. Amid the higher-rate environment, asset-sensitive banks like Huntington are set to benefit, with a rise in the yield on loans and securities. This has led to bullish investor sentiments, which drove the Huntington stock.

This regional bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.38 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +8.6%. Revenues are expected to be $1.84 billion, up 8.2% 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 Huntington Bancshares, 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 HBAN 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 >>>>

Huntington Bancshares is a member of the Zacks Banks - Midwest industry. One other stock in the same industry, Park National (PRK - Free Report) , finished the last trading session 4.1% higher at $135. PRK has returned 0.7% over the past month.

For Park National, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed +0.2% over the past month to $2.21. This represents a change of +8.3% from what the company reported a year ago. Park National currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (HBAN) - free report >>

Park National Corporation (PRK) - free report >>

Published in