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Oracle (ORCL) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Oracle (ORCL - Free Report) closed at $92.94, marking a +0.66% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.32% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.68%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.15%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the software maker had lost 3.76% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 1.76% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.61% in that time.

Oracle will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Oracle to post earnings of $1.11 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 4.72%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $10.21 billion, up 4.2% from the year-ago period.

ORCL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.65 per share and revenue of $42.23 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -0.43% and +4.31%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Oracle. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.14% lower. Oracle currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Oracle is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 19.85. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 36.91, which means Oracle is trading at a discount to the group.

It is also worth noting that ORCL currently has a PEG ratio of 2.34. 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 Computer - Software was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.99 at yesterday's closing price.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 167, putting it in the bottom 35% 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.

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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