Facebook (FB) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
Facebook (FB) closed the most recent trading day at $192.66, moving +0.8% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.17%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.03%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.32%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the social media company had gained 5.68% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 2.43% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.07% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from FB as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect FB to post earnings of $1.90 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 9.2%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $16.45 billion, up 24.3% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.09 per share and revenue of $69.22 billion, which would represent changes of -6.34% and +23.97%, respectively, from the prior year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for FB. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. FB currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Digging into valuation, FB currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 26.97. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 26.97, so we one might conclude that FB is trading at a no noticeable deviation comparatively.
Meanwhile, FB's PEG ratio is currently 1.33. 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. FB's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.63 as of yesterday's close.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 73, putting it in the top 29% 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.
To follow FB in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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