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Delta Air Lines (DAL) Stock Moves -0.69%: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Delta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) closed at $56.43, marking a -0.69% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.76%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.82%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.9%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the airline had gained 6.99% over the past month. This has outpaced the Transportation sector's loss of 0.39% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.41% in that time.

DAL will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 10, 2019. On that day, DAL is projected to report earnings of $1.22 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 27.08%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $10.89 billion, up 6.25% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.52 per share and revenue of $44.39 billion, which would represent changes of +11.97% and +7.62%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for DAL. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

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.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.09% higher within the past month. DAL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note DAL's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 10.29. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 12.81, which means DAL is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, DAL's PEG ratio is currently 0.65. 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 Transportation - Airline was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.67 at yesterday's closing price.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 186, which puts it in the bottom 28% 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.


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