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Agilent Technologies (A) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Agilent Technologies (A - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $128.06, moving +0.56% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.45%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.09%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 35%.

Heading into today, shares of the scientific instrument maker had lost 8.06% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 0.17% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.44% in that time.

Agilent Technologies will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be May 23, 2023. On that day, Agilent Technologies is projected to report earnings of $1.27 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 12.39%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.67 billion, up 3.77% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.68 per share and revenue of $7.07 billion, which would represent changes of +8.81% and +3.3%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Agilent Technologies. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

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.

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 0.01% higher. Agilent Technologies is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Investors should also note Agilent Technologies's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 22.43. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 23.85, so we one might conclude that Agilent Technologies is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that A has a PEG ratio of 1.87. 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. A's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.56 as of yesterday's close.

The Electronics - Testing Equipment industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 41, which puts it in the top 17% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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