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Columbia Banking (COLB) Surges 6.1%: Is This an Indication of Further Gains?

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Columbia Banking (COLB - Free Report) shares ended the last trading session 6.1% higher at $25.98. 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 8.5% gain over the past four weeks.

The Federal Reserve signaled end of the current rate cycle and kept the interest rates unchanged at 22-year high of 5.25-5.5% at the end of two-day FOMC meeting. Also, the central bank indicated three rate cuts by 2024-end. These developments attributed to optimistic investor sentiments as high funding costs being faced by banks will likely somewhat come down next year, thus support net interest income and margin. Thus, the COLB stock moved higher.

This bank holding company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.79 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -15.1%. Revenues are expected to be $525.44 million, up 176.5% 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 Columbia Banking, 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 COLB 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 >>>>

Columbia Banking belongs to the Zacks Banks - West industry. Another stock from the same industry, Plumas Bancorp (PLBC - Free Report) , closed the last trading session 1.3% higher at $39.95. Over the past month, PLBC has returned 15.9%.

For Plumas Bancorp, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $1.23. This represents a change of -6.8% from what the company reported a year ago. Plumas Bancorp currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).


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