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Jefferies (JEF) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Jefferies (JEF - Free Report) closed at $33.62, marking a +2.66% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.82%.

Heading into today, shares of the investment banking and capital markets company had gained 4.5% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's gain of 3.86% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.31% in that time.

The company is expected to report EPS of $1.11, up 593.75% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.74 billion, up 51.62% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.33 per share and revenue of $6.78 billion, which would represent changes of +63.4% and +11.1%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for JEF. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-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 remained stagnant. JEF is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that JEF has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.56 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.85.

The Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 118, which puts it in the top 47% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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