Alcon ALC shares ended the last trading session 6% higher at $96.80. 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 2.1% loss over the past four weeks.

Alcon scored a strong price increase driven by the optimism surrounding the company’s aggressive move on the M&A front. The company recently acquired a majority interest in Aurion Biotech, Inc. - a clinical-stage company developing advanced cell therapies to treat eye diseases. Additionally, Alcon inked a definitive merger agreement with LENSAR, Inc. to acquire ALLY Robotic Cataract Laser Treatment System, LENSAR’s proprietary Streamline software technology and LENSAR legacy laser system. 

This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.77 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -1.3%. Revenues are expected to be $2.51 billion, up 2.6% 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 Alcon, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 7.4% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. And a negative trend in earnings estimate revisions doesn't usually translate into price appreciation. So, make sure to keep an eye on ALC 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 >>>>

Alcon is a member of the Zacks Medical - Instruments industry. One other stock in the same industry, Nevro NVRO, finished the last trading session 0.2% lower at $5.84. NVRO has returned 2.1% over the past month.

For Nevro , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -10.2% over the past month to -$0.91. This represents a change of -30% from what the company reported a year ago. Nevro currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

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