Strength Seen in Hackett Group (HCKT): Can Its 5.7% Jump Turn into More Strength?

Hackett Group (HCKT) shares soared 5.7% in the last trading session to close at $11.17. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 1.9% loss over the past four weeks.

The stock recorded this price increase as the company benefits from rising demand for AI, supported by partner strategy and internal transition to Gen AI-backed delivery platforms.

This consulting company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.34 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -10.5%. Revenues are expected to be $68.9 million, down 11.3% 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 Hackett Group, 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 HCKT 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 >>>>

Hackett Group is part of the Zacks Consulting Services industry. Gartner (IT), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 6.3% higher at $165.65. IT has returned 20.2% in the past month.

Gartner's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -1% over the past month to $3.77. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +6.8%. Gartner currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

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

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