Facebook (FB) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Facebook (FB) closed the most recent trading day at $239.73, moving +0.31% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.34%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.13%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.94%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the social media company had gained 2.8% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 7.45% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.92% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from FB as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be July 29, 2020. On that day, FB is projected to report earnings of $1.42 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 56.04%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $17.21 billion, up 1.89% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.25 per share and revenue of $77.33 billion. These totals would mark changes of +12.75% and +9.38%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for FB. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. 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. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.23% lower within the past month. FB is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note FB's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 32.97. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 34.28.
Meanwhile, FB's PEG ratio is currently 1.73. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Internet - Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.81 at yesterday's closing price.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 154, putting it in the bottom 40% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.
To follow FB in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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