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CVS Health (CVS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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CVS Health (CVS - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $87.78, moving +0.14% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.25% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.08%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 7.26%.

Coming into today, shares of the drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager had lost 6.2% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 10.13%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.73%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from CVS Health as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 8, 2023. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.92, down 3.03% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $74.97 billion, down 2.14% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CVS Health. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. CVS Health is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, CVS Health is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 9.92. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 8.11, so we one might conclude that CVS Health is trading at a premium comparatively.

We can also see that CVS currently has a PEG ratio of 1.35. 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. Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.49 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 97, putting it in the top 39% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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