The latest trading session saw United Airlines (UAL) ending at $78.57, denoting a +1.38% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.4%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.28%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.39%.
Heading into today, shares of the airline had gained 12.61% over the past month, outpacing the Transportation sector's gain of 8.23% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.69% in that time.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of United Airlines in its forthcoming earnings report. In that report, analysts expect United Airlines to post earnings of $3.71 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 10.39%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $15.32 billion, up 2.21% from the year-ago period.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $9.98 per share and revenue of $58.77 billion, indicating changes of -5.94% and +2.99%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for United Airlines. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 4.6% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. United Airlines presently features a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).
Investors should also note United Airlines's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 7.77. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 9.31.
One should further note that UAL currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.23. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Transportation - Airline industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.88.
The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 149, putting it in the bottom 40% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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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United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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