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

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In the latest trading session, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) closed at $158.34, marking a +1.18% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.71%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.56%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.95%.

Heading into today, shares of the world's biggest maker of health care products had gained 5.05% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's loss of 1.41% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.17% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from JNJ as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 26, 2021. On that day, JNJ is projected to report earnings of $1.82 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 3.19%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $21.82 billion, up 5.16% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for JNJ. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.22% lower. JNJ currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note JNJ's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 17.6. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 13.94, so we one might conclude that JNJ is trading at a premium comparatively.

We can also see that JNJ currently has a PEG ratio of 3.03. 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. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.06 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 105, putting it in the top 42% 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.

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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