Agilent Technologies (A) Beats Stock Market Upswing: What Investors Need to Know
Agilent Technologies (A) closed the most recent trading day at $113.60, moving +1.78% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.16%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.47%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.07%.
Shares of the scientific instrument maker witnessed a loss of 0.7% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Computer and Technology sector with its gain of 5.61% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.02%.
The upcoming earnings release of Agilent Technologies will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on November 20, 2023. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $1.34, showcasing a 12.42% downward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.67 billion, down 9.87% from the year-ago period.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Agilent Technologies. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. 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.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 1.25% decrease. Agilent Technologies is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
From a valuation perspective, Agilent Technologies is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.77. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 24.43 for its industry.
It is also worth noting that A currently has a PEG ratio of 1.98. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Electronics - Testing Equipment industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.32.
The Electronics - Testing Equipment industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 61, this industry ranks in the top 25% of all industries, numbering over 250.
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.
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Agilent Technologies, Inc. (A) : Free Stock Analysis Report
