In the latest trading session, PPL (PPL) closed at $33.54, marking a -1.32% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.48%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.02%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.94%.
Heading into today, shares of the energy and utility holding company had lost 1.48% over the past month, lagging the Utilities sector's gain of 1.16% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.13%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of PPL in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $0.39, signifying a 2.63% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.98 billion, up 5.52% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.82 per share and revenue of $8.91 billion. These totals would mark changes of +7.69% and +5.27%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for PPL. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.09% increase. PPL is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that PPL has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.68 right now. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 18.19 for its industry.
We can additionally observe that PPL currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.5. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Utility - Electric Power industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.57 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 78, putting it in the top 32% of all 250+ industries.
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.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
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PPL Corporation (PPL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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