Golar LNG (GLNG) Soars 9.0%: Is Further Upside Left in the Stock?

Golar LNG (GLNG) shares ended the last trading session 9% higher at $41.53. 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 6.1% loss over the past four weeks.

Recently, Golar LNG announced that all conditions have been met for its 20-year charter agreement with Southern Energy for the 3.5 MTPA MKII FLNG, which will be deployed offshore Argentina starting operations in 2028. This contract provides GLNG with roughly $8 billion in net earnings backlog and secures a 30-year LNG export permit. This positive update resulted in the GLNG's shares going north.

This operator of carriers for natural gas shipping is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.46 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -13.2%. Revenues are expected to be $121.38 million, up 89.9% 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 Golar LNG, 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 GLNG 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 >>>>

Golar LNG belongs to the Zacks Oil and Gas - Integrated - International industry. Another stock from the same industry, Petrobras (PBR), closed the last trading session 1% higher at $11.86. Over the past month, PBR has returned -10.3%.

For Petrobras, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.61. This represents a change of -34.4% from what the company reported a year ago. Petrobras currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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