CF Industries (CF) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, CF Industries (CF) closed at $74.61, marking a -0.84% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.68%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.06%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.7%.
Coming into today, shares of the fertilizer maker had lost 13.37% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 4.99%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.68%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from CF Industries as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, CF Industries is projected to report earnings of $2.68 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 36.34%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.91 billion, down 33.44% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $9.94 per share and revenue of $7.81 billion, which would represent changes of -42.81% and -30.17%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CF Industries. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 25.21% lower. CF Industries is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, CF Industries is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 7.57. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 7.3, so we one might conclude that CF Industries is trading at a premium comparatively.
Investors should also note that CF has a PEG ratio of 1.26 right now. 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. Fertilizers stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.9 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 103, which puts it in the top 41% 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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CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) : Free Stock Analysis Report
