$Catalyst Biosciences(CBIO)$ Buy Candidate

Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. (CBIO) appears an attractive pick, as it has been recently upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). An upward trend in earnings estimates -- one of the most powerful forces impacting stock prices -- has triggered this rating change.

Therefore, the Zacks rating upgrade for Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. basically reflects positivity about its earnings outlook that could translate into buying pressure and an increase in its stock price.

The change in a company's future earnings potential, as reflected in earnings estimate revisions, has proven to be strongly correlated with the near-term price movement of its stock. The influence of institutional investors has a partial contribution to this relationship, as these big professionals use earnings and earnings estimates to calculate the fair value of a company's shares. An increase or decrease in earnings estimates in their valuation models simply results in higher or lower fair value for a stock, and institutional investors typically buy or sell it. Their transaction of large amounts of shares then leads to price movement for the stock.

Analysts have been steadily raising their estimates for Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company has increased 33.5%.

The upgrade of Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. to a Zacks Rank #2 positions it in the top 20% of the Zacks-covered stocks in terms of estimate revisions, implying that the stock might move higher in the near term.