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Cigna (CI) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Cigna (CI - Free Report) closed at $248.30, marking a +0.49% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 3.25%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 2.42%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.41%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the health insurer had lost 4.06% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Finance sector's loss of 5.02% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.62% in that time.

Cigna will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be August 4, 2022. On that day, Cigna is projected to report earnings of $5.56 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 6.11%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $44.23 billion, up 2.6% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $22.66 per share and revenue of $177.75 billion, which would represent changes of +10.7% and +2.11%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Cigna. 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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.24% higher. Cigna is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Cigna's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 10.9. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.48.

It is also worth noting that CI currently has a PEG ratio of 0.98. 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. CI's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.09 as of yesterday's close.

The Insurance - Multi line industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 194, putting it in the bottom 24% 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 CI in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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