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Patterson Cos. (PDCO) Laps the Stock Market: Here's Why

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Patterson Cos. (PDCO - Free Report) closed the latest trading day at $30.34, indicating a +1.71% change from the previous session's end. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.53%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.64%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.19%.

The the stock of medical supplies maker has risen by 4.56% in the past month, leading the Medical sector's gain of 1.36% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.48%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Patterson Cos. in its upcoming release. On that day, Patterson Cos. is projected to report earnings of $0.60 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 3.23%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.63 billion, up 2% from the year-ago period.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $2.38 per share and a revenue of $6.62 billion, signifying shifts of -1.65% and +2.31%, respectively, from the last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Patterson Cos. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.05% lower. Patterson Cos. presently features a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

From a valuation perspective, Patterson Cos. is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 12.55. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 19.46, so one might conclude that Patterson Cos. is trading at a discount comparatively.

We can additionally observe that PDCO currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.5. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Medical - Dental Supplies industry stood at 1.88 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Medical - Dental Supplies industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 180, which puts it in the bottom 29% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered 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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