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Penske Automotive (PAG) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Penske Automotive (PAG - Free Report) closed at $105.90 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.88% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.92%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.51%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.54%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the auto dealership chain had gained 6.9% over the past month. This has outpaced the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 4.75% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.85% in that time.

Penske Automotive will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Penske Automotive is projected to report earnings of $3.59 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 44.18%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.28 billion, up 7.98% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Penske Automotive. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.23% higher. Penske Automotive currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Investors should also note Penske Automotive's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 7.82. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 7.71, which means Penske Automotive is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that PAG has a PEG ratio of 0.37 right now. 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. The Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.38 at yesterday's closing price.

The Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 6, which puts it in the top 3% 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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