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United Parcel Service (UPS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, United Parcel Service (UPS - Free Report) closed at $160.14, marking a +0.8% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.27%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.18%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.87%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the package delivery service had lost 0.26% over the past month. This has lagged the Transportation sector's gain of 3.71% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.37% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from UPS as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect UPS to post earnings of $1.74 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 15.94%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $19.95 billion, up 8.93% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.91 per share and revenue of $80.35 billion, which would represent changes of -8.23% and +8.45%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for UPS. 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. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.09% higher. UPS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

In terms of valuation, UPS is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 22.99. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 19.12, which means UPS is trading at a premium to the group.

Meanwhile, UPS's PEG ratio is currently 2.96. 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. UPS's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.4 as of yesterday's close.

The Transportation - Air Freight and Cargo industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 7, putting it in the top 3% 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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