Abbott (ABT) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Abbott (ABT) closed at $70.63, marking a +1.45% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.86%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.14%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.38%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had lost 4.41% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Medical sector's loss of 7.15% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.55% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ABT as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 23, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.81, up 9.46% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.79 billion, up 2.62% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.89 per share and revenue of $30.60 billion. These totals would mark changes of +15.6% and +11.74%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for ABT. 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.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.03% higher. ABT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that ABT has a Forward P/E ratio of 24.12 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 22.33, which means ABT is trading at a premium to the group.
We can also see that ABT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.06. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. ABT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.07 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 107, putting it in the top 42% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
