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Hercules Technology (HTGC) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Hercules Technology (HTGC - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $13.04, moving +0.46% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.42% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 5.16%.

Coming into today, shares of the specialty finance company had lost 17.59% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 7.84%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.27%.

Hercules Technology will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Hercules Technology to post earnings of $0.45 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 50%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $101.5 million, up 55.77% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.85 per share and revenue of $429.59 million. These totals would mark changes of +25% and +33.54%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Hercules Technology. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.43% higher. Hercules Technology is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Digging into valuation, Hercules Technology currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.01. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 7.08, so we one might conclude that Hercules Technology is trading at a discount comparatively.

The Financial - SBIC & Commercial Industry industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 10, which puts it in the top 4% 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.

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


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