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W.P. Carey (WPC) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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W.P. Carey (WPC - Free Report) closed at $63.33 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.77% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.67%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.25%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.14%.

Coming into today, shares of the real estate investment trust had lost 4.55% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 3.09%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.73%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from W.P. Carey as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect W.P. Carey to post earnings of $1.36 per share. This would mark no growth from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $459.02 million, up 19.65% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.36 per share and revenue of $1.81 billion. These totals would mark changes of +1.32% and +22.16%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for W.P. Carey. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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 remained stagnant. W.P. Carey is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note W.P. Carey's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 11.91. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.56.

It is also worth noting that WPC currently has a PEG ratio of 6.88. 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. The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.43 as of yesterday's close.

The REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 191, putting it in the bottom 25% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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