Hercules Capital (HTGC) closed at $19.43 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.09% move from the prior day. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.54% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.52%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.74%.
Shares of the specialty finance company witnessed a gain of 6.66% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Finance sector with its gain of 2.92%, and the S&P 500's gain of 4.2%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Hercules Capital in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.47, indicating a 7.84% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $126.18 million, indicating a 0.94% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.91 per share and revenue of $509.49 million. These totals would mark changes of -4.5% and +3.22%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Hercules Capital should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.08% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Hercules Capital currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
In the context of valuation, Hercules Capital is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 10.08. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 9.
The Financial - SBIC & Commercial Industry industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 197, which puts it in the bottom 21% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Hercules Capital, Inc. (HTGC): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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