American Airlines (AAL) closed at $14.24 in the latest trading session, marking a +2.01% move from the prior day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.25%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.39%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.59%.
Shares of the world's largest airline witnessed a gain of 4.65% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Transportation sector with its gain of 2.83%, and the S&P 500's loss of 0.23%.
The upcoming earnings release of American Airlines will be of great interest to investors. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.61, marking a 29.07% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $14.24 billion, indicating a 4.27% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
AAL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $0.78 per share and revenue of $54.82 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -60.2% and +1.12%, respectively.
Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for American Airlines. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.
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.
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 1.13% lower. At present, American Airlines boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that American Airlines has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.84 right now. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 10.65.
Meanwhile, AAL's PEG ratio is currently 1.88. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Transportation - Airline industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.73.
The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 153, finds itself in the bottom 39% echelons 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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American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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