American Campus Communities (ACC) Moves 12.5% Higher: Will This Strength Last?

American Campus Communities (ACC) shares soared 12.5% in the last trading session to close at $64.80. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 4.3% gain over the past four weeks.

This increased investor optimism can be attributed to the news of its acquisition by Blackstone for $65.47 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at roughly $12.8 billion, including the assumption of debt.

ACC owns 166 properties in 71 prominent university markets, including Arizona State University and The University of Texas at Austin, among many others.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022. However, as ACC rallied to end the last trading session at $64.80, a little lower than what Blackstone has offered, there is just a marginal upside in the stock.

This real estate investment trust is expected to post quarterly funds from operations (FFO) of $0.70 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +22.8%. Revenues are expected to be $254.7 million, up 9.4% from the year-ago quarter.

FFO and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in FFO estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.

For American Campus Communities, the consensus FFO per share estimate for the quarter has been revised 1.6% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. And a positive trend in FFO estimate revision usually translates into price appreciation. So, make sure to keep an eye on ACC 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 >>>>

American Campus Communities is part of the Zacks REIT and Equity Trust - Residential industry. Office Properties Income Trust (OPI), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 2.6% higher at $25.05. OPI has returned -1.6% in the past month.

Office Properties Income Trust's consensus FFO per share estimate for the upcoming report has changed -1.2% over the past month to $1.27. Compared to the company's year-ago FFO per share, this represents a change of -0.8%. Office Properties Income Trust currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

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