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Abbott (ABT) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

Abbott (ABT) closed at $111.70 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.78% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.58%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had lost 5.06% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 2.01%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.17%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ABT as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, ABT is projected to report earnings of $1.03 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 80.7%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $9.72 billion, up 32.63% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.42 per share and revenue of $39.62 billion. These totals would mark changes of +21.1% and +14.47%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for ABT. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of 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. 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 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 13.68% lower. ABT currently has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

Investors should also note ABT's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 25.08. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 28.62, which means ABT is trading at a discount to the group.

Also, we should mention that ABT has a PEG ratio of 2.15. 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. ABT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.27 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 192, putting it in the bottom 25% 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.

To follow ABT in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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