Lam Research LRCX shares ended the last trading session 4.6% higher at $172.27. 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 18% gain over the past four weeks.
The upswing came after several financial research firms raised their target price on the stock, citing accelerating demand for its wafer fabrication equipment, which is used to build AI and high-performance computing chips.
This semiconductor equipment maker is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.15 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +26.4%. Revenues are expected to be $5.22 billion, up 19.2% 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 Lam Research, 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 LRCX going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Lam Research is part of the Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry. Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. ALGM, another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 1.1% higher at $26.7. ALGM has returned 15.9% in the past month.
Allegro MicroSystems' consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.14. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +100%. Allegro MicroSystems currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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Lam Research Corporation (LRCX): Free Stock Analysis Report Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. (ALGM): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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