SQM (SQM) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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SQM (SQM) closed the most recent trading day at $101.78, moving +0.65% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.07%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.08%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.04%.

Heading into today, shares of the chemicals company had gained 21.66% over the past month, outpacing the Basic Materials sector's gain of 7.46% and the S&P 500's gain of 8.06% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from SQM as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, SQM is projected to report earnings of $3.24 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 945.16%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $2.37 billion, up 302.68% from the year-ago period.

SQM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $12.58 per share and revenue of $9.51 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +513.66% and +232.33%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for SQM. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 17.44% higher. SQM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Investors should also note SQM's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 8.04. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 5.07, so we one might conclude that SQM is trading at a premium comparatively.

Meanwhile, SQM's PEG ratio is currently 0.45. 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 Fertilizers industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.63 as of yesterday's close.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 71, putting it in the top 29% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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