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Strength Seen in First Business Financial Services (FBIZ): Can Its 6.0% Jump Turn into More Strength?

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First Business Financial Services (FBIZ - Free Report) shares soared 6% in the last trading session to close at $31.06. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 15.7% gain over the past four weeks.

First Business Financial stock rallied for the second consecutive day. With the market participants expecting the Federal Reserve to keep the interest rates unchanged following this month’s FOMC meeting, investor sentiments turned bullish on the bank stocks. As the Fed raised the rates at faster pace, it led to the ongoing banking crisis. Hence, an expected pause in the interest rate hikes will support banks’ financials. This optimistic stance drove FBIZ stock higher.

This bank holding company for First Business Bank and First Business Bank-Milwaukee is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -22.5%. Revenues are expected to be $34.35 million, up 12.5% 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 First Business Financial Services, 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 FBIZ 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 >>>>

First Business Financial Services belongs to the Zacks Banks - Midwest industry. Another stock from the same industry, Enterprise Financial Services (EFSC - Free Report) , closed the last trading session 2% higher at $44.05. Over the past month, EFSC has returned 11.7%.

Enterprise Financial Services' consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $1.30. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +9.2%. Enterprise Financial Services currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).


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