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

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In the latest trading session, SQM (SQM) closed at $49.96, marking a +1.83% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.41%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.01%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.13%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the chemicals company had lost 14.47% over the past month. This has lagged the Basic Materials sector's gain of 4.05% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.36% in that time.

SQM will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, SQM is projected to report earnings of $0.86 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 244%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $933.32 million, up 81.65% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for SQM should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 9.95% higher. SQM is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, SQM is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 13.87. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 7.85, which means SQM is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that SQM currently has a PEG ratio of 0.34. 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. SQM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.8 as of yesterday's close.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 4, putting it in the top 2% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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