Back to top

Image: Bigstock

CVS Health (CVS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

In the latest trading session, CVS Health (CVS - Free Report) closed at $100.90, marking a +0.11% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.02%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.74%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.4%.

Heading into today, shares of the drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager had gained 7.64% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 6.04% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.91% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from CVS Health as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect CVS Health to post earnings of $1.59 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 22.31%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $75.06 billion, up 7.91% from the prior-year quarter.

CVS's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.02 per share and revenue of $290.53 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +6.93% and +8.12%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CVS Health. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.72% higher within the past month. CVS Health currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, CVS Health is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 12.57. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.17.

Meanwhile, CVS's PEG ratio is currently 1.86. 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 Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.08 at yesterday's closing price.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 203, which puts it in the bottom 21% 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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


CVS Health Corporation (CVS) - free report >>

Published in