GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
This story originally appeared on Zacks
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) closed the most recent trading day at $43.36, moving +0.7% from the previous trading session. The stock lagged the S&P 500’s daily gain of 1.78%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.61%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.95%.
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Coming into today, shares of the drug developer had gained 4.29% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 0.46%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.63%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from GlaxoSmithKline as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect GlaxoSmithKline to post earnings of $0.67 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 8.06%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $12.8 billion, up 10.89% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.05 per share and revenue of $45.98 billion, which would represent changes of +2.35% and +4.95%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for GlaxoSmithKline. 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. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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 has moved 0.16% higher. GlaxoSmithKline is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Digging into valuation, GlaxoSmithKline currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.14. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.8, which means GlaxoSmithKline is trading at a premium to the group.
Also, we should mention that GSK has a PEG ratio of 2.45. 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 Large Cap Pharmaceuticals was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.04 at yesterday’s closing price.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 120, putting it in the top 48% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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