In the latest trading session, Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN) closed at $106.58, marking a +0.16% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.35% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.24%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.56%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugmaker had lost 0.94% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 3.32% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.69% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from ALXN as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.53, up 18.22% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.29 billion, up 14.69% from the prior-year quarter.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for ALXN. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.05% higher. ALXN is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
In terms of valuation, ALXN is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.4. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 25.18.
Investors should also note that ALXN has a PEG ratio of 0.67 right now. 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 Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.66 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 57, which puts it in the top 23% 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXN): Free Stock Analysis Report
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