In the latest close session, CRH (CRH) was up +1.44% at $124.65. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.01%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.55%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.44%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the building material company had lost 1.81% lagged the Construction sector's loss of 1.55% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.86%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of CRH in its forthcoming earnings report. On that day, CRH is projected to report earnings of $1.56 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 9.09%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $9.54 billion, up 7.6% from the year-ago period.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $5.56 per share and a revenue of $37.57 billion, indicating changes of +3.15% and 0%, respectively, from the former year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CRH. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
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, 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.03% lower within the past month. CRH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
Looking at valuation, CRH is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.97. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.7, so one might conclude that CRH is trading at a premium comparatively.
Meanwhile, CRH's PEG ratio is currently 1.8. 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. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.8.
The Building Products - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Construction sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 197, this industry ranks in the bottom 20% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.
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CRH PLC (CRH): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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