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Anthem (ANTM) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Anthem closed at $460.40, marking a -0.54% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.38%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.5%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.46%.

Coming into today, shares of the health insurer had lost 6.22% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 2.15%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.69%.

Anthem will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Anthem to post earnings of $7.74 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 10.1%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $38.04 billion, up 14.29% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $28.54 per share and revenue of $153.24 billion. These totals would mark changes of +9.85% and +11.9%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Anthem. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.54% lower. Anthem currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Anthem has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.22 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.74, so we one might conclude that Anthem is trading at a premium comparatively.

Meanwhile, ANTM's PEG ratio is currently 1.3. 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. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.1 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 86, putting it in the top 34% 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 ANTM in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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