Cigna (CI) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
Cigna (CI) closed at $265.29 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.22% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.36%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.91%.
Coming into today, shares of the health insurer had lost 4.81% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 7.22%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.24%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Cigna as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be May 5, 2023. The company is expected to report EPS of $5.35, down 10.98% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $45.25 billion, up 2.59% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $24.77 per share and revenue of $187.58 billion, which would represent changes of +6.45% and +3.84%, respectively, from the prior year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Cigna. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest 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. 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.
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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.96% higher within the past month. Cigna is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Investors should also note Cigna's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 10.73. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 8.88.
We can also see that CI currently has a PEG ratio of 0.95. 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. CI's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.95 as of yesterday's close.
The Insurance - Multi line industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 59, which puts it in the top 24% of all 250+ industries.
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.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Cigna Group (CI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
