Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) closed the most recent trading day at $272.31, moving +0.79% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.13%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.15%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.14%.

Heading into today, shares of the drugmaker had gained 0.63% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's loss of 5.23% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.32% in that time.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Vertex Pharmaceuticals to post earnings of $3.56 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 14.47%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.12 billion, up 18.38% from the year-ago period.

VRTX's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $14.13 per share and revenue of $8.6 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +8.53% and +13.54%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Vertex Pharmaceuticals is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.12. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 20.6.

Investors should also note that VRTX has a PEG ratio of 1.76 right now. 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. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.09 at yesterday's closing price.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 108, which puts it in the top 43% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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 follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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