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Hologic (HOLX) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Hologic (HOLX - Free Report) closed at $68.32, marking a +0.66% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.46%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.17%.

Heading into today, shares of the medical device maker had lost 14.18% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's loss of 3.17% and the S&P 500's loss of 6.94% in that time.

Hologic will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Hologic is projected to report earnings of $0.69 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 48.12%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $896.2 million, down 23.29% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.54 per share and revenue of $4.67 billion, which would represent changes of -34.13% and -17.14%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Hologic. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.28% lower. Hologic is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Hologic is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 12.24. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 26.49, which means Hologic is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that HOLX currently has a PEG ratio of 0.85. 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 - Instruments was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.88 at yesterday's closing price.

The Medical - Instruments industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 181, which puts it in the bottom 29% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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 HOLX in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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