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Humana (HUM) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Humana (HUM - Free Report) closed at $495.55, marking a +0.24% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.1% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.19%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.27%.

Coming into today, shares of the health insurer had lost 2.24% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 2.4%, while the S&P 500 lost 3.02%.

Humana will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $9.47, up 17.79% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $26.46 billion, up 10.41% from the year-ago period.

HUM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $28.06 per share and revenue of $103.56 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +11.17% and +11.51%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Humana. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.02% higher within the past month. Humana is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Humana has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.62 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 13.35, so we one might conclude that Humana is trading at a premium comparatively.

Meanwhile, HUM's PEG ratio is currently 1.24. 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. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.85 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 219, putting it in the bottom 14% 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.

To follow HUM in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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