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MetLife (MET) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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MetLife (MET - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $53.76, moving -1.99% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.62% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 5.66%.

Coming into today, shares of the insurer had gained 5.85% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 3.31%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.44%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from MetLife as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect MetLife to post earnings of $1.99 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 0.5%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $16.89 billion, down 7.7% from the year-ago period.

MET's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.74 per share and revenue of $68.48 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +12.99% and -9.36%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for MetLife should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-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 2.15% lower. MetLife is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that MetLife has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.09 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 8.66, which means MetLife is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that MET has a PEG ratio of 0.63 right now. 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. MET's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.13 as of yesterday's close.

The Insurance - Multi line industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 68, which puts it in the top 27% 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.

To follow MET in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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