Alignment Healthcare ALHC shares rallied 6.3% in the last trading session to close at $18.95. 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 18.6% gain over the past four weeks.
Alignment Healthcare scored a strong price increase, on investors’ optimism driven by reports of Stifel increasing the company’s price target to $23 from $18 with a Buy rating. The development came after Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Final Rate Notice for 2026, which came 283 basis points above the Advance Rate Notice released in January.
This Medicare Advantage insurer is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.14 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +44%. Revenues are expected to be $889.43 million, up 41.5% 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 Alignment Healthcare, 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 ALHC 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 >>>>
Alignment Healthcare belongs to the Zacks Medical Services industry. Another stock from the same industry, HealthEquity HQY, closed the last trading session 4.5% lower at $76.77. Over the past month, HQY has returned -15%.
HealthEquity's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -5.5% over the past month to $0.84. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +5%. HealthEquity currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (ALHC): Free Stock Analysis Report HealthEquity, Inc. (HQY): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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