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Canon (CAJ) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Canon closed at $22.46, marking a +1.26% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.85%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.17%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.05%.

Coming into today, shares of the office machine company had lost 4.15% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 0.5%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.97%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Canon as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.42, down 14.29% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $9.26 billion, down 2.45% from the prior-year quarter.

CAJ's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $1.74 per share and revenue of $32.62 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +128.95% and +8.48%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Canon should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 0.95% lower within the past month. Canon currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Canon has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.75 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 16.32, so we one might conclude that Canon is trading at a discount comparatively.

Meanwhile, CAJ's PEG ratio is currently 12.75. 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. Office Automation and Equipment stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 12.75 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Office Automation and Equipment industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 73, putting it in the top 29% 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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