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Union Pacific (UNP) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Union Pacific (UNP - Free Report) closed at $218.36, marking a +0.19% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.13%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.56%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.16%.

Heading into today, shares of the railroad had lost 9.52% over the past month, lagging the Transportation sector's loss of 7.46% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.59% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Union Pacific as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Union Pacific to post earnings of $3.03 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 17.9%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.47 billion, up 16.18% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $11.55 per share and revenue of $25 billion, which would represent changes of +16.08% and +14.64%, respectively, from the prior year.

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

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Union Pacific is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Union Pacific is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 18.87. This represents a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.87.

Meanwhile, UNP's PEG ratio is currently 1.89. 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. The Transportation - Rail was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.87 at yesterday's closing price.

The Transportation - Rail industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 78, which puts it in the top 31% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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