Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX - Free Report) closed at $180.02 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.49% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.83%.

Coming into today, shares of the drugmaker had lost 5.47% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 10.16%, while the S&P 500 lost 3.68%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from VRTX as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.08, up 16.67% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.84 billion, up 19.31% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $12.37 per share and revenue of $7.25 billion, which would represent changes of +19.86% and +16.81%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for VRTX. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. VRTX is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

Looking at its valuation, VRTX is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 14.63. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 24.54.

Investors should also note that VRTX has a PEG ratio of 1.49 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. VRTX's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.55 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 172, putting it in the bottom 33% 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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) - free report >>

Published in