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Azenta (AZTA) Surges 7.2%: Is This an Indication of Further Gains?

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Azenta (AZTA - Free Report) shares ended the last trading session 7.2% higher at $49.65. 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 13.2% gain over the past four weeks.

Azenta scored a strong price increase driven by investors’ optimism following the news of the company joining the S&P SmallCap 600. Per S&P Dow Jones’ press release, Azenta replaced Envestnet Inc. in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective from November 25. Additionally, the market is also positive surrounding the company’s announcement of fourth quarter fiscal 2024 results. The company reported an earnings surprise of 63.64% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. 

This supplier to semiconductor manufacturers is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.05 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +150%. Revenues are expected to be $146.24 million, down 5.2% 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 Azenta, 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 AZTA 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 >>>>

Azenta is a member of the Zacks Medical Info Systems industry. One other stock in the same industry, Inspire Medical Systems (INSP - Free Report) , finished the last trading session 2% lower at $186.97. INSP has returned 8.3% over the past month.

For Inspire, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed +0.5% over the past month to $0.72. This represents a change of +46.9% from what the company reported a year ago. Inspire currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).


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