Abbott (ABT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Abbott (ABT) closed at $117.62, marking a -0.51% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.29% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.58%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.4%.
Heading into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had lost 7.9% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's loss of 3.48% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.91% in that time.
ABT will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, ABT is projected to report earnings of $1.34 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 106.15%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $10.84 billion, up 40.3% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.07 per share and revenue of $42.43 billion. These totals would mark changes of +38.9% and +22.59%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for ABT. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. ABT currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that ABT has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.3 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 29.56, which means ABT is trading at a discount to the group.
It is also worth noting that ABT currently has a PEG ratio of 1.65. 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. Medical - Products stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.41 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 156, putting it in the bottom 39% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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