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Citizens Community Bancorp (CZWI) Moves 5.1% Higher: Will This Strength Last?

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Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. (CZWI - Free Report) shares soared 5.1% in the last trading session to close at $13.07. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 7.7% gain over the past four weeks.

The company witnessed a strong price increase as an encouraging inflation number and a rising unemployment rate are giving confidence to the Federal Reserve that prices will eventually come down toward the 2% target. So, market participants are predicting interest rate cuts as early as during the September FOMC meeting.

This is a positive development for bank stocks that have been reeling under the Fed’s aggressive monetary tightening. As the rates come down, so will banks’ funding costs. Also, demand for loans is expected to improve. Hence, the investors turned bullish on banking sector stocks, driving CZWI higher.
 

This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.27 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -12.9%. Revenues are expected to be $13.8 million, down 5.5% 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 Citizens Community Bancorp, 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 CZWI 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 >>>>

Citizens Community Bancorp belongs to the Zacks Financial - Savings and Loan industry. Another stock from the same industry, Flushing Financial (FFIC - Free Report) , closed the last trading session 3.5% higher at $16.61. Over the past month, FFIC has returned 30.5%.

Flushing Financial's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.18. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of -30.8%. Flushing Financial currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).


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