Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) closed the most recent trading day at $193, making no change from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.77% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.44%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.06%.
Heading into today, shares of the social media company had gained 5.46% over the past month, outpacing the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 4.12% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.12% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from FB as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, FB is projected to report earnings of $1.90 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 9.2%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $16.45 billion, up 24.3% from the prior-year quarter.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.09 per share and revenue of $69.29 billion. These totals would mark changes of -6.34% and +24.09%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for FB should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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.
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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. FB is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note FB's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 27.23. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 29.2, so we one might conclude that FB is trading at a discount comparatively.
Investors should also note that FB has a PEG ratio of 1.35 right now. 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 Internet - Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.75 at yesterday's closing price.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 63, which puts it in the top 25% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.
Facebook, Inc. (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report
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