Aflac (AFL) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

AFL

Aflac (AFL - Free Report) closed at $58.72 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.53% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.08% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.81%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.22%.

Heading into today, shares of the insurer had gained 3.99% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's gain of 2.11% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.03% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Aflac as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, Aflac is projected to report earnings of $1.31 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 17.61%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.87 billion, down 12.46% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.28 per share and revenue of $19.72 billion. These totals would mark changes of -11.11% and -10.77%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Aflac should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. 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. 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 0.14% higher within the past month. Aflac is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Aflac currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 11.3. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.3.

Meanwhile, AFL's PEG ratio is currently 2.26. 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. AFL's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.44 as of yesterday's close.

The Insurance - Accident and Health industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 106, putting it in the top 42% 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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