Hawaiian Holdings Surges 6.1%: Is This an Indication of Further Gains?

Hawaiian Holdings HA shares rallied 6.1% in the last trading session to close at $13.80. 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 2.2% loss over the past four weeks.

Shares of Hawaiian Holdings have been gaining over the last few trading days as investors await the U.S. Department of Justice's ("DOJ") decision on HA's planned merger with Alaska Air ALK.

This parent company of Hawaiian Airlines is expected to post quarterly loss of $1.30 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -176.6%. Revenues are expected to be $749.3 million, up 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 Hawaiian Holdings, 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 HA 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).

Hawaiian Holdings is a member of the Zacks Transportation - Airline industry. One other stock in the same industry, American Airlines AAL, finished the last trading session 0.5% higher at $10.98. AAL has returned -4.9% over the past month.

American Airlines' consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -9.8% over the past month to $1.05. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of -45.3%. American Airlines currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.