Centene (NYSE:CNC) closed at $46.45 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.98% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily of 0%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.19%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.07%.
Heading into today, shares of the healthcare company had lost 1.98% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 0.55% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.25% in that time.
CNC will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect CNC to post earnings of $0.96 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6.67%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $18.39 billion, up 13.62% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.42 per share and revenue of $73.74 billion, which would represent changes of +24.86% and +22.67%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for CNC. 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.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.
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% lower. CNC is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, CNC is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.42. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.47.
Meanwhile, CNC's PEG ratio is currently 0.73. 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. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.03 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 46, which puts it in the top 18% 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.
Centene Corporation (CNC): Free Stock Analysis Report
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