Raytheon (RTN) closed at $191.31 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.43% move from the prior day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 1.79% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.86%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.56%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the defense contractor had gained 5.51% over the past month. This has outpaced the Aerospace sector's loss of 0.39% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.72% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from RTN as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.86, up 27.11% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $7.22 billion, up 6.06% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.73 per share and revenue of $28.94 billion. These totals would mark changes of +10.56% and +6.94%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for RTN. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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 remained stagnant. RTN currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that RTN has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.38 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 21.85, so we one might conclude that RTN is trading at a discount comparatively.
Also, we should mention that RTN has a PEG ratio of 1.53. 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 Aerospace - Defense Equipment was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.09 at yesterday's closing price.
The Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 32, which puts it in the top 13% 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.
To follow RTN in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN
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