CF Industries (CF) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
CF Industries (CF) closed at $87.82 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.15% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 2.01% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.56%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.2%.
Coming into today, shares of the fertilizer maker had lost 9.3% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 15.03%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.08%.
CF Industries will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect CF Industries to post earnings of $6.14 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 438.6%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $3.69 billion, up 132.6% from the prior-year quarter.
CF's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $18.95 per share and revenue of $12.18 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +346.93% and +86.25%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for CF Industries should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature 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.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.05% higher. CF Industries currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
In terms of valuation, CF Industries is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 4.58. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 4.89, which means CF Industries is trading at a discount to the group.
Investors should also note that CF has a PEG ratio of 0.76 right now. 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. The Fertilizers was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.58 at yesterday's closing price.
The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 16, which puts it in the top 7% 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.
To follow CF in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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