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Wells Fargo (WFC) Flat As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Wells Fargo (WFC - Free Report) closed at $37.38, marking no change from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.44%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.26%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 5.21%.

Heading into today, shares of the biggest U.S. mortgage lender had lost 18.38% over the past month, lagging the Finance sector's loss of 6.37% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.28% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Wells Fargo as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 14, 2023. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.18, up 34.09% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $20.28 billion, up 15.31% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.80 per share and revenue of $79.86 billion. These totals would mark changes of +52.87% and +8.23%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Wells Fargo. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.

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 has moved 0.27% lower. Wells Fargo is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Wells Fargo currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.79. This represents a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.79.

It is also worth noting that WFC currently has a PEG ratio of 0.76. 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. The Banks - Major Regional was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.1 at yesterday's closing price.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 163, putting it in the bottom 36% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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