In the latest close session, Pfizer (PFE) was up +1.17% at $24.31. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.11%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.19%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.43%.
The drugmaker's shares have seen an increase of 3.04% over the last month, surpassing the Medical sector's gain of 2.14% and falling behind the S&P 500's gain of 3.92%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Pfizer in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.57, marking a 5% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $13.55 billion, up 2% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.06 per share and revenue of $63.25 billion. These totals would mark changes of -1.61% and -0.6%, respectively, from last year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Pfizer. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable 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 remained stagnant. At present, Pfizer boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Pfizer has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.85 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.6, which means Pfizer is trading at a discount to the group.
Meanwhile, PFE's PEG ratio is currently 0.87. 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. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.22.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 96, putting it in the top 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.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
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Pfizer Inc. (PFE): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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