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Gilead Sciences (GILD) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Gilead Sciences (GILD) closed at $65.30, marking a +0.63% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.41% loss on the day.

Coming into today, shares of the HIV and hepatitis C drugmaker had gained 1.37% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 3.28%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.07%.

GILD will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect GILD to post earnings of $1.97 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 17.26%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.71 billion, up 20.87% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.21 per share and revenue of $24.87 billion. These totals would mark changes of +1.69% and +0.74%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for GILD. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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, 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. GILD is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, GILD is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 9. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 25.58, which means GILD is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that GILD currently has a PEG ratio of 0.72. 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. GILD's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.46 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 191, which puts 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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