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Harsco (HSC) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Harsco closed at $6.88, marking a +1.03% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.28%. At the same time, the Dow added 2.13%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 5.02%.

Coming into today, shares of the industrial services company had lost 2.58% in the past month. In that same time, the Business Services sector lost 3.62%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.61%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Harsco as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Harsco to post earnings of -$0.03 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 113.64%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $452.25 million, down 2.13% from the prior-year quarter.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Harsco should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 10.71% lower. Harsco is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note Harsco's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 27.24. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 20.19, so we one might conclude that Harsco is trading at a premium comparatively.

The Technology Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 98, putting it in the top 39% 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.

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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