Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) closed at $187.70 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.08% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.4% gain on the day.

Heading into today, shares of the drugmaker had lost 11.99% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 2.31% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.07% in that time.

VRTX will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.73, up 4.6% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.72 billion, up 12.54% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $11.22 per share and revenue of $6.92 billion, which would represent changes of +8.72% and +11.44%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for VRTX. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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, 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. VRTX currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, VRTX is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 16.74. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 22.84.

We can also see that VRTX currently has a PEG ratio of 1.41. 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 Medical - Biomedical and Genetics was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.39 at yesterday's closing price.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 218, putting it in the bottom 15% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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