Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (MCB) shares rallied 5.3% in the last trading session to close at $66.52. 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 16.7% gain over the past four weeks.

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. stock rallied for the second consecutive trading session and touched a new 52-week high of $67.35 on Friday. Bank stocks have been in the spotlight since the U.S. presidential election results. Higher chances of deregulation under Donald Trump’s administration, lower interest rates and clarity on several macroeconomic factors have turned investors bullish on bank stocks. Hence, these factors drove the MCB stock higher.

This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.49 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +16.4%. Revenues are expected to be $64.6 million, up 1.6% 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 Metropolitan Bank Holding, 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 MCB 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 >>>>

Metropolitan Bank Holding is a member of the Zacks Banks - Northeast industry. One other stock in the same industry, Unity Bancorp (UNTY), finished the last trading session 1.6% higher at $46.61. UNTY has returned 17.8% over the past month.

Unity Bancorp's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $1.08. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +12.5%. Unity Bancorp currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

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