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Prudential (PRU) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Prudential (PRU - Free Report) closed at $91.15 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.08% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.75%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.32%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.11%.

Heading into today, shares of the financial services company had lost 7.51% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's loss of 7.98% and the S&P 500's loss of 8.4% in that time.

Prudential will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.37, down 37.3% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $13 billion, down 33.89% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.92 per share and revenue of $53.7 billion. These totals would mark changes of -31.96% and -11.56%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Prudential. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.8% lower within the past month. Prudential is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Prudential currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.18. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.51.

It is also worth noting that PRU currently has a PEG ratio of 1.02. 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 Insurance - Multi line was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.03 at yesterday's closing price.

The Insurance - Multi line industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 54, which puts it in the top 22% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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