CVS Health (CVS) ended the latest trading session at $61.03, marking a +1.73% change from the previous day’s closing price. This move outpaced the S&P 500’s daily gain of 0.23%. At the same time, the Dow fell 0.17%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.34%.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the drug store chain and pharmacy benefit management company had gained 6.63% over the past month, outpacing the Retail & Wholesale sector’s gain of 0.79% and the S&P 500’s gain of 3.96% in that time period.
CVS Health’s upcoming earnings release will be of great interest to investors, as the company is expected to report EPS of $1.77, which would represent a year-over-year decrease of 19.91%, while the latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $91.62 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 3.03%.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.02 per share and revenue of $368.93 billion, which would represent changes of -19.68% and +3.12%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for CVS Health. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, positive estimate revisions can be viewed as a sign of optimism for the company’s business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with future stock price movements. To capitalize on this phenomenon, we developed the Zacks Rank. 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 an outstanding, outside-audited track record, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.06% lower within the past month. CVS Health currently has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
Digging deeper into valuation, CVS Health’s current Forward P/E ratio is 8.55, which indicates a premium compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 7.68.
Investors should also note that CVS has a PEG ratio currently at 0.57. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, except the PEG ratio also takes into account a company’s expected earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is currently 0.77, as of yesterday’s close.
The Retail – Pharmacies & Drug Stores industry is a part of the Retail – Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 231, putting it in the bottom 9% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks included in the groups, and our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to track all of these stock-moving metrics and more by utilizing Zacks.com during the coming trading sessions.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Download today: 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days Click to get this free report.
CVS Health Corporation (CVS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research