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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $151.52, moving -1.23% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.75% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.76%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.4%.

Heading into today, shares of the world's biggest maker of health care products had gained 4.11% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 2% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 7% in that time.

JNJ will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.98, down 6.6% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $20.40 billion, down 1.57% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.85 per share and revenue of $80.86 billion. These totals would mark changes of -9.56% and -1.46%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for JNJ. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

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.

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 remained stagnant within the past month. JNJ is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that JNJ has a Forward P/E ratio of 19.54 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.69, so we one might conclude that JNJ is trading at a premium comparatively.

Investors should also note that JNJ has a PEG ratio of 3.4 right now. 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. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.03 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 109, putting it in the top 43% 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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