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Anthem (ANTM) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Anthem closed the most recent trading day at $283, moving -1.84% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.46%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.13%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.63%.

Coming into today, shares of the health insurer had lost 9.17% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 0.39%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.08%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ANTM as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, ANTM is projected to report earnings of $5.83 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 7.76%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $24.25 billion, up 8.52% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $19.13 per share and revenue of $99.98 billion, which would represent changes of +20.39% and +9.45%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for ANTM. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 0.13% higher. ANTM is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, ANTM is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 15.07. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.05.

We can also see that ANTM currently has a PEG ratio of 1.03. 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 - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.08 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 21, which puts it in the top 9% 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.

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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