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Comcast (CMCSA) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Comcast (CMCSA - Free Report) closed at $36.18, marking a +0.75% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.32%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.38%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.74%.

Coming into today, shares of the cable provider had gained 3.73% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Discretionary sector gained 4.65%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.16%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from CMCSA as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 23, 2019. On that day, CMCSA is projected to report earnings of $0.62 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 26.53%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $25.74 billion, up 17.45% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for CMCSA should also be noted by investors. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.51% lower. CMCSA is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note CMCSA's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 13.01. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.46.

Also, we should mention that CMCSA has a PEG ratio of 0.97. 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 Cable Television was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.11 at yesterday's closing price.

The Cable Television industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 93, putting it in the top 37% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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