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Eli Lilly (LLY) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $321.55, moving -0.56% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.59%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.66%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.07%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugmaker had gained 7.31% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector's loss of 3.87% and the S&P 500's loss of 9.22% in that time.

Eli Lilly will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Eli Lilly is projected to report earnings of $1.79 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 7.73%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.02 billion, up 3.7% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.98 per share and revenue of $28.83 billion. These totals would mark changes of -2.21% and +1.8%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Eli Lilly. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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, 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 0.24% higher. Eli Lilly currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Eli Lilly's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 40.54. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 12.13, which means Eli Lilly is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that LLY has a PEG ratio of 2.08. 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. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.78 at yesterday's closing price.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 86, which puts it in the top 35% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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