Yahoo Finance Agilent Technologies (A) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Agilent Technologies (A) closed at $133.85, marking a +0.92% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.42% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 5.16%.
Heading into today, shares of the scientific instrument maker had lost 6.58% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 6.12% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.27% in that time.
Agilent Technologies will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Agilent Technologies is projected to report earnings of $1.26 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 11.5%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.67 billion, up 3.88% from the year-ago period.
A's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.68 per share and revenue of $7.07 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +8.81% and +3.25%, respectively.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Agilent Technologies. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
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 has moved 0.6% higher. Agilent Technologies is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.
In terms of valuation, Agilent Technologies is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.36. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 23.59, so we one might conclude that Agilent Technologies is trading at a discount comparatively.
Meanwhile, A's PEG ratio is currently 1.95. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. A's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.6 as of yesterday's close.
The Electronics - Testing Equipment industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 45, which puts it in the top 18% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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Agilent Technologies, Inc. (A) : Free Stock Analysis Report
