Westlake Chemical (WLK) Stock Moves -0.68%: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Westlake Chemical (WLK) closed at $91.81, marking a -0.68% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 0.93% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.43%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.17%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the chemical company had lost 2.52% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Basic Materials sector's loss of 10.51% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 6.31% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Westlake Chemical as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be August 2, 2022. The company is expected to report EPS of $6.33, up 56.68% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.29 billion, up 50.22% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $22.10 per share and revenue of $15.53 billion, which would represent changes of +41.85% and +31.85%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Westlake Chemical. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-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. 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, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.5% lower. Westlake Chemical is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note Westlake Chemical's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 4.18. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.05.
Meanwhile, WLK's PEG ratio is currently 0.13. 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. WLK's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.17 as of yesterday's close.
The Chemical - Plastic industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 243, which puts it in the bottom 4% 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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