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Olympic Steel (ZEUS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Olympic Steel (ZEUS - Free Report) closed at $51.14 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.01% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.42% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 5.16%.

Heading into today, shares of the steel maker had lost 3.56% over the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's loss of 1.62% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.27% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Olympic Steel as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.88, down 71.61% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $596.6 million, down 14.32% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.50 per share and revenue of $2.35 billion. These totals would mark changes of -54.95% and -8.32%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Olympic Steel should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Olympic Steel is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Olympic Steel is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 14.49. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 8.46, so we one might conclude that Olympic Steel is trading at a premium comparatively.

The Steel - Producers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 29, which puts it in the top 12% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

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


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