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Bank of America (BAC) Stock Moves -0.23%: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Bank of America (BAC - Free Report) closed at $43.16, marking a -0.23% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 2.04% loss on the day.

Coming into today, shares of the nation's second-largest bank had gained 3.84% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 1.16%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.36%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from BAC as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect BAC to post earnings of $0.71 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 39.22%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $21.7 billion, up 6.73% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.34 per share and revenue of $87.83 billion, which would represent changes of +78.61% and +2.69%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for BAC. 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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.08% higher within the past month. BAC is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, BAC currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.97. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.88, which means BAC is trading at a premium to the group.

Meanwhile, BAC's PEG ratio is currently 1.85. 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 Banks - Major Regional was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.34 at yesterday's closing price.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 84, which puts it in the top 34% 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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