Union Pacific (UNP) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Union Pacific (UNP) closed at $224.72 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.52% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.75%.
Coming into today, shares of the railroad had lost 0.62% in the past month. In that same time, the Transportation sector lost 4.85%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.91%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from UNP as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 22, 2021. In that report, analysts expect UNP to post earnings of $2.38 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 42.51%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.21 billion, up 22.67% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.60 per share and revenue of $21.18 billion. These totals would mark changes of +17.22% and +8.43%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for UNP. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.38% higher. UNP is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, UNP is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.3. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 23.18.
Investors should also note that UNP has a PEG ratio of 2.33 right now. 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 Transportation - Rail industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.33 as of yesterday's close.
The Transportation - Rail industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 126, which puts it in the top 50% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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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