In the latest trading session, Hologic (HOLX) closed at $65.51, marking a -1.82% move from the previous day. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.3%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.48%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.03%.
Heading into today, shares of the medical device maker had lost 1.81% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 7.07% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.09%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Hologic in its forthcoming earnings report. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $1.1, reflecting a 8.91% increase from the same quarter last year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $1.03 billion, showing a 4.6% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.23 per share and revenue of $4.08 billion. These totals would mark changes of +3.68% and +1.34%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Hologic. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.07% higher. Right now, Hologic possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Hologic has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.77 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 23.97.
We can also see that HOLX currently has a PEG ratio of 2.42. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As the market closed yesterday, the Medical - Instruments industry was having an average PEG ratio of 2.57.
The Medical - Instruments industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 144, which puts it in the bottom 42% 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.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
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Hologic, Inc. (HOLX): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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