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NextEra Energy (NEE) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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NextEra Energy (NEE - Free Report) closed at $193.28 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.71% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.67%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.82%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.78%.

Heading into today, shares of the parent company of Florida Power & Light Co. Had gained 2.24% over the past month, outpacing the Utilities sector's gain of 1.26% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.25% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from NEE as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect NEE to post earnings of $1.91 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 1.55%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.12 billion, up 6.65% from the prior-year quarter.

NEE's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.40 per share and revenue of $18.38 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +9.09% and +9.77%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for NEE. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.07% higher within the past month. NEE is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, NEE is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 22.85. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 19.81, so we one might conclude that NEE is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that NEE currently has a PEG ratio of 2.95. 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. NEE's industry had an average PEG ratio of 3.51 as of yesterday's close.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 84, which puts it in the top 33% 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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