GDEV Inc. (GDEV) shares ended the last trading session 46.6% higher at $20.90. 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 14.7% loss over the past four weeks.

Shares of GDEV are likely to have been boosted significantly by the announcement of the one-time, nonrecurring special cash dividend of $3.31 per share, payable on March 11, 2025, to shareholders as of March 3. The company will be funding the special cash dividend of about $60 million from its accumulated profits over the past years, representing a portion of its total cash balance of about $153 million (as of the third quarter of 2024). The investors’ sentiments are expected to have been elevated by this international gaming and entertainment company’s strategic move of distributing a part of its retained earnings, highlighting its intentions of ensuring shareholder value along with maintaining an efficient operating model.

This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.17 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -66%. Revenues are expected to be $106.15 million, down 2.7% 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 GDEV Inc., 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 GDEV 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 >>>>

GDEV Inc. is a member of the Zacks Gaming industry. One other stock in the same industry, Skillz Inc. (SKLZ), finished the last trading session 0.8% higher at $6.33. SKLZ has returned -2.8% over the past month.

For Skillz , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at -$1.07. This represents a change of -2.9% from what the company reported a year ago. Skillz currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

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

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