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Abiomed (ABMD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Abiomed closed at $332.68, marking a +0.21% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.82% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.79%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.79%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of heart devices had lost 11.93% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 5.35%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.94%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from ABMD as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 7, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.93, up 32.86% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $194.88 million, up 26.53% from the year-ago period.

ABMD's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.04 per share and revenue of $771.16 million. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +105.71% and +29.88%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for ABMD. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, 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 3.01% higher within the past month. ABMD is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that ABMD has a Forward P/E ratio of 65.9 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 33.45.

Meanwhile, ABMD's PEG ratio is currently 1.92. 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 Medical - Instruments industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.41 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Instruments industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 65, which puts it in the top 25% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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