ATS (ATS) Moves 17.0% Higher: Will This Strength Last?

ATS Corporation ATS shares rallied 17% in the last trading session to close at $24.65. 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 17.3% loss over the past four weeks.

ATS’ rally is largely driven by optimism over its strong momentum in the life sciences, food & beverage and consumer products markets. Solid product offerings, innovation capabilities and operational initiatives bode well for the company.

This automation services provider is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.26 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -45.8%. Revenues are expected to be $477.09 million, down 18.7% 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 ATS, 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 ATS 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 >>>>

ATS is a member of the Zacks Manufacturing - General Industrial industry. One other stock in the same industry, RBC Bearings (RBC), finished the last trading session 9.4% higher at $333.39. RBC has returned -10.7% over the past month.

For RBC Bearings

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

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