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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $173.66, moving +0.42% from the previous trading session. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.43%.

Coming into today, shares of the world's biggest maker of health care products had gained 0.42% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 2.94%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.56%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from JNJ as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, JNJ is projected to report earnings of $2.38 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 8.18%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $23.68 billion, up 12.31% from the prior-year quarter.

JNJ's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $9.65 per share and revenue of $94.34 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +20.17% and +14.23%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for JNJ. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

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 has moved 0.04% higher within the past month. JNJ is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that JNJ has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.92 right now. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.69.

Investors should also note that JNJ has a PEG ratio of 2.31 right now. 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. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.2 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 122, which puts it in the top 49% 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.

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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