Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Stock Moves -0.46%: What You Should Know
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) closed at $181.38 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.46% move from the prior day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 1.19% loss on the day.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugmaker had lost 7.57% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's loss of 4.53% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.16% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from VRTX as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.08, up 16.67% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.84 billion, up 19.31% from the year-ago period.
VRTX's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $12.37 per share and revenue of $7.25 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +19.86% and +16.81%, respectively.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for VRTX. 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.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.
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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. VRTX is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that VRTX has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.73 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 25.28, which means VRTX is trading at a discount to the group.
Investors should also note that VRTX has a PEG ratio of 1.5 right now. 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. VRTX's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.59 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 175, putting it in the bottom 32% 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.
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
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
