BASF SE (BASFY) shares rallied 10.9% in the last trading session to close at $14.46. 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 11.5% gain over the past four weeks.
BASF’s rally appears to reflect optimism following its strong 2024 earnings report. Its EBITDA before special items climbed 18% year over year in 2024 to €7.9 billion, driven by solid performance of its core businesses on higher volumes amid pricing pressure. The company also saw a significant year-over-year increase in net income to €1.3 billion in 2024. BASF sees EBITDA before special items to increase to between €8 billion and €8.4 billion in 2025.
This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.38 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -17.4%. Revenues are expected to be $18.44 billion, down 3.3% 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 BASF, 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 BASFY 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 >>>>
BASF is part of the Zacks Chemical - Diversified industry. Air Products and Chemicals (APD), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 2% higher at $311.58. APD has returned -9% in the past month.
For Air Products and Chemicals , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -5.9% over the past month to $2.83. This represents a change of -0.7% from what the company reported a year ago. Air Products and Chemicals currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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