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Anthem (ANTM) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Anthem closed at $286.39 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.34% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.15%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.05%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the health insurer had gained 3.63% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 5.8% and outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 1.32% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from ANTM as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.90, up 59.84% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $26.85 billion, up 15.23% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $19.43 per share and revenue of $102.82 billion, which would represent changes of +22.28% and +12.56%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for ANTM. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.01% higher within the past month. ANTM is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note ANTM's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 14.79. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 19.01, so we one might conclude that ANTM is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that ANTM currently has a PEG ratio of 1.06. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.23 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 59, which puts it in the top 24% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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