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Abbott (ABT) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Abbott (ABT - Free Report) closed at $120.49 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.81% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.76%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.94%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.12%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had lost 0.88% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 0.52%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.74%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from ABT as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, ABT is projected to report earnings of $1.34 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 106.15%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $10.84 billion, up 40.3% from the year-ago period.

ABT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.07 per share and revenue of $42.43 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +38.9% and +22.59%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for ABT. 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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. ABT is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that ABT has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.97 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 29.25, which means ABT is trading at a discount to the group.

It is also worth noting that ABT currently has a PEG ratio of 1.7. 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. The Medical - Products was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.53 at yesterday's closing price.

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 140, putting it in the bottom 46% 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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