Yahoo Finance Abbott (ABT) Stock Moves -0.04%: What You Should Know
Abbott (ABT) closed the most recent trading day at $127.44, moving -0.04% from the previous trading session. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 0.16% loss on the day.
Coming into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had gained 2.87% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 0.24%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.46%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ABT as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, ABT is projected to report earnings of $0.92 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 6.12%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $9.43 billion, up 6.49% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.42 per share and revenue of $39.79 billion, which would represent changes of +21.1% and +14.98%, respectively, from the prior year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for ABT. 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.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 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 0.02% lower. ABT is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note ABT's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 28.88. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 29.65, which means ABT is trading at a discount to the group.
Investors should also note that ABT has a PEG ratio of 2.43 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. Medical - Products stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.37 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 215, which puts it in the bottom 16% 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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