Oracle (ORCL) Stock Moves -0.79%: What You Should Know

Oracle (ORCL) closed at $82.72 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.79% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.1%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.89%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.03%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the software maker had lost 7.21% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 5.94% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.81% in that time.

Oracle will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.17, up 0.86% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $10.5 billion, up 4.15% from the year-ago period.

ORCL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.80 per share and revenue of $42.31 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +2.78% and +4.51%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Oracle should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.25% lower. Oracle is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Oracle is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 17.38. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 35.44, which means Oracle is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that ORCL has a PEG ratio of 2.04 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Computer - Software industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.64 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 98, which puts it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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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