Shenandoah Telecommunications (SHEN) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.06 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.04 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.03 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 50%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this telecommunications service provider in parts of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia would post a loss of $0.11 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.13, delivering a surprise of 218.18%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates two times.

Shenandoah Telecom , which belongs to the Zacks Diversified Communication Services industry, posted revenues of $62.6 million for the quarter ended December 2021, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.13%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $58.13 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Shenandoah Telecom shares have lost about 12.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's decline of -8%.

What's Next for Shenandoah Telecom?

While Shenandoah Telecom has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Shenandoah Telecom: unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.