Merck KGaA (MKKGY) Soars 5.3%: Is Further Upside Left in the Stock?

Merck KGaA (MKKGY) shares rallied 5.3% in the last trading session to close at $33.55. 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 5.9% gain over the past four weeks.Shares of Merck KGaA surged after the company announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Bio-Techne in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $11.3 billion, paying $73 per share, a 36% premium to Bio-Techne's one-month volume-weighted average share price, subject to customary closing conditions.The acquisition will strengthen Merck's presence in high-growth life science markets while expanding Bio-Techne's global reach through Merck's scale, manufacturing expertise, and Life Science infrastructure.This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.47 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -17.5%. Revenues are expected to be $6.1 billion, up 2.3% 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 Merck KGaA, 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 MKKGY going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>Merck KGaA belongs to the Zacks Medical - Drugs industry. Another stock from the same industry, Journey Medical Corporation (DERM), closed the last trading session 9.2% lower at $6.22. Over the past month, DERM has returned 14.4%.Journey Medical's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at -$0.01. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +93.8%. Journey Medical currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is HereThe AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.See Stocks Now >>This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks