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Centene (CNC) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
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In the latest trading session, Centene (CNC - Free Report) closed at $57.28, marking a -1.04% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.35%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.03%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.7%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the healthcare company had lost 0.69% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 1.51% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.14% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from CNC as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 23, 2019. In that report, analysts expect CNC to post earnings of $1.31 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 20.18%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $17.58 billion, up 33.26% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.24 per share and revenue of $70.87 billion, which would represent changes of +19.77% and +17.89%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CNC. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.09% higher. CNC currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that CNC has a Forward P/E ratio of 13.66 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.43, so we one might conclude that CNC is trading at a discount comparatively.
Also, we should mention that CNC has a PEG ratio of 1.02. 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 1.18 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 40, putting it in the top 16% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Centene (CNC) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Centene (CNC - Free Report) closed at $57.28, marking a -1.04% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.35%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.03%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.7%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the healthcare company had lost 0.69% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 1.51% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.14% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from CNC as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 23, 2019. In that report, analysts expect CNC to post earnings of $1.31 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 20.18%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $17.58 billion, up 33.26% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.24 per share and revenue of $70.87 billion, which would represent changes of +19.77% and +17.89%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CNC. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.09% higher. CNC currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that CNC has a Forward P/E ratio of 13.66 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.43, so we one might conclude that CNC is trading at a discount comparatively.
Also, we should mention that CNC has a PEG ratio of 1.02. 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 1.18 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 40, putting it in the top 16% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.