In the latest close session, Oracle (ORCL) was down 1.64% at $196.99. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.91%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.43%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.67%.
Coming into today, shares of the software maker had lost 28.83% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 0.55%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.24%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Oracle in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.63, up 10.88% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $16.15 billion, up 14.84% from the year-ago period.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $6.81 per share and revenue of $66.89 billion, indicating changes of +12.94% and +16.53%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Oracle. 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 business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.23% increase. As of now, Oracle holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Oracle is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 29.4. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 22.21, so one might conclude that Oracle is trading at a premium comparatively.
Also, we should mention that ORCL has a PEG ratio of 1.81. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. ORCL's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.75 as of yesterday's close.
The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 75, putting it in the top 31% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming 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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Oracle Corporation (ORCL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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