Photronics (PLAB) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
Photronics (PLAB) closed at $9.45 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.96% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.15%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 0%.
Coming into today, shares of the electronics imaging company had lost 4.39% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 5.26%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.27%.
PLAB will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be December 5, 2018. In that report, analysts expect PLAB to post earnings of $0.17 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 112.5%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $137.20 million, up 13.42% from the year-ago period.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for PLAB. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
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.
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 remained stagnant within the past month. PLAB currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note PLAB's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 19.3. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.93, which means PLAB is trading at a premium to the group.
Meanwhile, PLAB's PEG ratio is currently 1.93. 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. The Semiconductor Equipment - Photomasks was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.89 at yesterday's closing price.
The Semiconductor Equipment - Photomasks industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 112, putting it in the top 44% 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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