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Molina (MOH) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

Molina (MOH) closed the most recent trading day at $140.01, moving +1.12% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 3.24%. At the same time, the Dow lost 3.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.8%.

Heading into today, shares of the provider of Medicaid-related services had gained 12.57% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 4.97% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.73% in that time.

MOH will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 11, 2019. In that report, analysts expect MOH to post earnings of $1.49 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 338.24%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.55 billion, down 8.11% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.25 per share and revenue of $18.78 billion. These totals would mark changes of +1551.79% and -5.56%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MOH. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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. 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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 5.35% higher within the past month. MOH is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, MOH is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.97. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.6.

It is also worth noting that MOH currently has a PEG ratio of 1.32. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. MOH's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.46 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, putting it in the top 40% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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