NRG Energy (NRG) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

NRG Energy (NRG) closed at $36.87 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.36% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.28% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.42%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.03%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the power company had lost 3.06% over the past month. This has lagged the Utilities sector's gain of 2.09% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.31% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from NRG as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.32, up 915.38% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for NRG. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.7% lower. NRG currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note NRG's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 6.59. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 19.49, so we one might conclude that NRG is trading at a discount comparatively.

Meanwhile, NRG's PEG ratio is currently 0.16. 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. Utility - Electric Power stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.68 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 165, putting it in the bottom 36% 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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