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Zynga (ZNGA) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Zynga closed at $9.12, marking a +0.55% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.48%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.48%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.29%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of "FarmVille" and other online games had gained 0.11% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Discretionary sector's loss of 1.97% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.3% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ZNGA as it approaches its next earnings report date. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $627.09 million, up 58.83% from the year-ago period.

ZNGA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $0.36 per share and revenue of $2.22 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +3500% and +41.98%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for ZNGA. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 4.17% higher within the past month. ZNGA is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note ZNGA's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 25.3. This valuation marks a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 25.3.

It is also worth noting that ZNGA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.26. 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. The Gaming was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.16 at yesterday's closing price.

The Gaming industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 107, putting it in the top 43% 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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