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Cloud Peak Energy (CLD) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Cloud Peak Energy closed at $0.59, marking a +0.75% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.27%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.41%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.09%.

Heading into today, shares of the coal miner had gained 69.14% over the past month, outpacing the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 3.94% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.26% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from CLD as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, CLD is projected to report earnings of -$0.23 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 43.75%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $221.34 million, up 3.48% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for CLD should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. 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.

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 15.34% lower. CLD is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

The Coal industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 23, which puts it in the top 10% 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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