Strength Seen in Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR): Can Its 5.7% Jump Turn into More Strength?

Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR) shares soared 5.7% in the last trading session to close at $7.45. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 2.9% gain over the past four weeks.

The surge in stock price is attributable to investor’s positive outlook for Esperion’s performance in the second half of 2022. The company which currently has two FDA-approved drugs — Nexletol and Nexlizet — in its portfolio is also attracting investors due to its pipeline progress.

This biopharmaceutical company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.92 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +64.9%. Revenues are expected to be $20.07 million, up 39.3% 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 Esperion Therapeutics, 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 ESPR 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 >>>>

Esperion Therapeutics belongs to the Zacks Medical - Drugs industry. Another stock from the same industry, Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS), closed the last trading session 2.5% higher at $47.41. Over the past month, IONS has returned 4.4%.

For Ionis Pharmaceuticals , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed +0.6% over the past month to -$0.71. This represents a change of -22.4% from what the company reported a year ago. Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

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