Eli Lilly (LLY) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Eli Lilly (LLY) closed at $115.81, marking a +1.74% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.66%. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.56%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.03%.
Coming into today, shares of the drugmaker had gained 0.46% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 1.89%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.43%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from LLY as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 30, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.36, up 19.3% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.37 billion, up 3.4% from the prior-year quarter.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.58 per share and revenue of $24.48 billion. These totals would mark changes of +30.37% and +7.02%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for LLY should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
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.
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 1.96% higher. LLY is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Investors should also note LLY's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 20.41. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.56, so we one might conclude that LLY is trading at a premium comparatively.
Meanwhile, LLY's PEG ratio is currently 1.81. 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. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.01 at yesterday's closing price.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 100, putting it in the top 39% 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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