In the latest trading session, Wells Fargo (WFC) closed at $52.82, marking a +1.28% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.06% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.83%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.72%.
Coming into today, shares of the biggest U.S. mortgage lender had lost 4.24% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 0.25%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.09%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from WFC as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 11, 2019. In that report, analysts expect WFC to post earnings of $1.19 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 22.68%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $21.27 billion, down 3.53% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.28 per share and revenue of $86.12 billion, which would represent changes of +4.14% and -2.3%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WFC should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 0.19% lower. WFC is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, WFC is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 12.17. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.42.
Investors should also note that WFC has a PEG ratio of 1.09 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 Banks - Major Regional industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.2 as of yesterday's close.
The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 109, which puts it in the top 42% 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC
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