Acuity Brands (AYI) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Acuity Brands (AYI) closed at $157.98 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.96% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.85%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.65%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 13.7%.
Coming into today, shares of the lighting maker had lost 2.34% in the past month. In that same time, the Construction sector gained 4.08%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.87%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Acuity Brands as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Acuity Brands is projected to report earnings of $3.67 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 4.26%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.04 billion, down 1.82% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $13.88 per share and revenue of $4.07 billion, which would represent changes of +8.18% and +1.6%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Acuity Brands. 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.
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 has moved 3.08% higher. Acuity Brands is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note Acuity Brands's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 11.17. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 13.5, so we one might conclude that Acuity Brands is trading at a discount comparatively.
Meanwhile, AYI's PEG ratio is currently 1.12. 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. AYI's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.12 as of yesterday's close.
The Building Products - Lighting industry is part of the Construction sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 47, which puts it in the top 19% 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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Acuity Brands Inc (AYI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
