L.B. Foster (FSTR) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
L.B. Foster (FSTR) closed at $18.17 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.4% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.33%.
Heading into today, shares of the railroad track manufacturer had gained 0.28% over the past month, outpacing the Basic Materials sector's loss of 3.78% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 1.74% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from FSTR as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect FSTR to post earnings of $0.27 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 34.15%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $141.74 million, down 2.76% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $0.74 per share and revenue of $534.61 million, which would represent changes of -69.42% and +5.14%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for FSTR. 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. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
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. FSTR is currently a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
Looking at its valuation, FSTR is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 24.22. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 6.59, so we one might conclude that FSTR is trading at a premium comparatively.
The Steel - Producers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 20, which puts it in the top 8% 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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