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United Airlines (UAL) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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United Airlines (UAL - Free Report) closed at $48.80 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.12% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.24%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.03%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 5.73%.

Heading into today, shares of the airline had gained 5.23% over the past month, outpacing the Transportation sector's loss of 0.59% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.56% in that time.

United Airlines will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.70, up 158.74% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $13.94 billion, up 15.09% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $9.03 per share and revenue of $53.03 billion. These totals would mark changes of +258.33% and +17.96%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for United Airlines. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.28% higher. United Airlines currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, United Airlines currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.34. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 10.15, which means United Airlines is trading at a discount to the group.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 39, putting it in the top 16% 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.

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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