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Preferred Apartment Communities (APTS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Preferred Apartment Communities closed at $24.80 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.2% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.13%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.74%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.91%.

Heading into today, shares of the real estate investment trust had lost 2.44% over the past month, lagging the Finance sector's gain of 0.44% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.65% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Preferred Apartment Communities as it approaches its next earnings release.

APTS's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $1.03 per share and revenue of $419.28 million. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -6.36% and -7.06%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Preferred Apartment Communities. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Preferred Apartment Communities is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Preferred Apartment Communities has a Forward P/E ratio of 24.03 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 24.44, so we one might conclude that Preferred Apartment Communities is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that APTS has a PEG ratio of 3.43. 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. REIT and Equity Trust - Residential stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.71 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Residential industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 52, putting it in the top 21% 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.

To follow APTS in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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