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Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $221.86, moving -0.3% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.06%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.59%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.3%.

Coming into today, shares of the drugmaker had gained 8.52% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 4.74%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.76%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Vertex Pharmaceuticals as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is projected to report earnings of $3.32 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 32.27%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $2 billion, up 23.11% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Vertex Pharmaceuticals should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Vertex Pharmaceuticals is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.71 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.36, which means Vertex Pharmaceuticals is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that VRTX currently has a PEG ratio of 1.63. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.44 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 166, which puts it in the bottom 35% 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.


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