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Amgen (AMGN) Suffers a Larger Drop Than the General Market: Key Insights

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In the latest trading session, Amgen (AMGN - Free Report) closed at $303.10, marking a -0.48% move from the previous day. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.07%.

Shares of the world's largest biotech drugmaker have appreciated by 8.15% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Medical sector's gain of 7.37% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.98%.

The upcoming earnings release of Amgen will be of great interest to investors. In that report, analysts expect Amgen to post earnings of $4.70 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 14.91%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $8.14 billion, up 18.99% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Amgen. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. 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.

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 has shifted 0.14% upward. Currently, Amgen is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Amgen is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 15.35. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 22.75, which means Amgen is trading at a discount to the group.

It's also important to note that AMGN currently trades at a PEG ratio of 2.72. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.95 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 61, finds itself in the top 25% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained 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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