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Abbott (ABT) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Abbott (ABT - Free Report) closed at $117.91 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.22% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.83%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had lost 9.74% 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 ABT as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 20, 2021. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.92, down 6.12% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $9.43 billion, up 6.49% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.42 per share and revenue of $39.79 billion, which would represent changes of +21.1% and +14.98%, respectively, from the prior year.

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. 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 has moved 0.02% lower. ABT is holding a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now.

Looking at its valuation, ABT is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 26.39. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 26.11.

Investors should also note that ABT has a PEG ratio of 2.22 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. ABT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.16 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 206, putting it in the bottom 19% 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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