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NRG Energy (NRG) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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NRG Energy (NRG - Free Report) closed at $34.66 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.28% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.09%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.03%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.51%.

Coming into today, shares of the power company had gained 4.4% in the past month. In that same time, the Utilities sector gained 5.68%, while the S&P 500 gained 6.17%.

NRG Energy will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of -$0.08, down 132% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $7.97 billion, up 0.91% from the prior-year quarter.

NRG's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.54 per share and revenue of $25.76 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +73.28% and -18.34%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for NRG Energy should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 4.12% lower within the past month. NRG Energy is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, NRG Energy currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.74. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.71, which means NRG Energy is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that NRG currently has a PEG ratio of 1.19. 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. Utility - Electric Power stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.98 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 107, which puts it in the top 43% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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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