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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $202.09, moving +1.71% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.47%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.79%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.02%.

Heading into today, shares of the company had lost 1.5% over the past month, lagging the Finance sector's gain of 0.38% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.5% in that time.

BRK.B will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect BRK.B to post earnings of $2.39 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 11.68%.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for BRK.B. 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.

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.

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 4.08% higher. BRK.B is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking at its valuation, BRK.B is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 18.34. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.89, so we one might conclude that BRK.B is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that BRK.B currently has a PEG ratio of 2.62. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. BRK.B's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.22 as of yesterday's close.

The Insurance - Property and Casualty industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 96, putting it in the top 38% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

To follow BRK.B in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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