In the latest trading session, Comcast (CMCSA) closed at $31.60, marking a -1.53% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.57% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.61%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.26%.
Shares of the cable provider witnessed a gain of 5.21% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Consumer Discretionary sector with its gain of 2.06%, and the S&P 500's loss of 0.15%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Comcast in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.88, reflecting a 19.27% decrease from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $30.71 billion, indicating a 2.75% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.68 per share and revenue of $123.16 billion. These totals would mark changes of -14.62% and -0.45%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Comcast. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.15% lower. Comcast is currently a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
Digging into valuation, Comcast currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.71. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 7.01, which means Comcast is trading at a premium to the group.
One should further note that CMCSA currently holds a PEG ratio of 2.5. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The average PEG ratio for the Cable Television industry stood at 0.59 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Cable Television industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 181, which puts it in the bottom 27% 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.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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Comcast Corporation (CMCSA): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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