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Abbott (ABT) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Abbott (ABT - Free Report) closed at $69.69 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.93% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.15% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.21%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.81%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had lost 4.53% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 2.7%, while the S&P 500 gained 6.55%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from ABT as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 17, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.62, up 5.08% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.48 billion, up 1.17% from the year-ago period.

ABT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.20 per share and revenue of $31.81 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +11.11% and +4.04%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for ABT. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. 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. 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.

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 0.28% higher. ABT is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Digging into valuation, ABT currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 21.58. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.61.

Also, we should mention that ABT has a PEG ratio of 1.84. 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. Medical - Products stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.09 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 102, putting it in the top 40% 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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