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Gilead Sciences (GILD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Gilead Sciences (GILD - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $72.43, moving +0.82% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.02% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.74%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.4%.

Heading into today, shares of the HIV and hepatitis C drugmaker had gained 1.71% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 0.37% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.91% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Gilead Sciences as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.45, down 33.79% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.39 billion, down 13.89% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $8.07 per share and revenue of $26.48 billion. These totals would mark changes of +13.82% and +7.24%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Gilead Sciences. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.06% higher. Gilead Sciences is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Gilead Sciences is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.9. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 22.8.

Meanwhile, GILD's PEG ratio is currently 0.74. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. GILD's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.65 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 157, putting it in the bottom 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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