Amgen (AMGN) closed at $311.55 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.5% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.55%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.14%.
Shares of the world's largest biotech drugmaker have depreciated by 0.36% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Medical sector's loss of 3.93% and the S&P 500's loss of 6.22%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Amgen in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $4.18, indicating a 5.56% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $8.01 billion, showing a 7.52% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $20.63 per share and a revenue of $35.08 billion, signifying shifts of +3.98% and +4.94%, respectively, from the last year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Amgen. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained steady. Amgen is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Amgen is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.88. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.84.
Investors should also note that AMGN has a PEG ratio of 2.56 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.47 at yesterday's closing price.
The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 67, this industry ranks in the top 27% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Amgen Inc. (AMGN): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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