Novartis (NVS) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

In this article:

Novartis (NVS) closed the latest trading day at $107.60, indicating a +0.15% change from the previous session's end. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.07%.

The drugmaker's stock has climbed by 7.75% in the past month, exceeding the Medical sector's gain of 7.37% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.98%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Novartis in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $1.66, reflecting a 9.93% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $11.67 billion, indicating an 8.01% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Novartis should also be noted by investors. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.76% upward. Novartis currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Novartis's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 14.85. This denotes a premium relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 14.73.

One should further note that NVS currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.7. 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. The average PEG ratio for the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry stood at 1.86 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 165, placing it within the bottom 35% of over 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

Novartis AG (NVS) : Free Stock Analysis Report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

Zacks Investment Research

Advertisement