AbbVie (ABBV) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, AbbVie (ABBV) closed at $115.17, marking a +0.8% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.75%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugmaker had gained 2.5% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 5.55% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.52% in that time.
ABBV will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.05, up 30.34% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $13.64 billion, up 30.88% from the year-ago period.
ABBV's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $12.60 per share and revenue of $55.93 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +19.32% and +22.12%, respectively.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for ABBV. 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.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. ABBV is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Digging into valuation, ABBV currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.14. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.81.
It is also worth noting that ABBV currently has a PEG ratio of 1.73. 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. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.12 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 120, which puts it in the top 48% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.
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