Abbott (ABT) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know
Abbott (ABT) closed the most recent trading day at $100.83, moving -0.87% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.47% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.02%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 15.51%.
Heading into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had lost 7.99% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's loss of 4% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.53% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Abbott as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.98, down 43.35% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $9.64 billion, down 18.98% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.38 per share and revenue of $39.74 billion, which would represent changes of -17.98% and -8.97%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Abbott. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Abbott is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Looking at its valuation, Abbott is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 23.21. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 23.77, so we one might conclude that Abbott is trading at a discount comparatively.
It is also worth noting that ABT currently has a PEG ratio of 4.56. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Medical - Products industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.11 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 108, putting it in the top 43% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Abbott Laboratories (ABT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
