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Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX - Free Report) closed at $257.98, marking a +0.88% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.23%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.97%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.44%.

Coming into today, shares of the drugmaker had gained 11.17% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 4.31%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.69%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Vertex Pharmaceuticals as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Vertex Pharmaceuticals to post earnings of $3.59 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 20.47%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.08 billion, up 20.69% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $14.52 per share and revenue of $8.55 billion, which would represent changes of +11.52% and +12.93%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Vertex Pharmaceuticals should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

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 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. Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 17.61. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 22.59.

Meanwhile, VRTX's PEG ratio is currently 1.13. 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 Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.2 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 160, which puts it in the bottom 38% 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 VRTX in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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