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Abbott (ABT) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Abbott (ABT - Free Report) closed at $111.30, marking a +0.97% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.49% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.69%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.56%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had gained 3.68% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 0.16%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.44%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ABT as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 27, 2021. On that day, ABT is projected to report earnings of $1.36 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 43.16%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $9.91 billion, up 19.18% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for ABT should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. ABT is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note ABT's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 25.15. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 27.7.

Also, we should mention that ABT has a PEG ratio of 2.04. 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. ABT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 3.06 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 164, which puts it in the bottom 36% 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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