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Afya (AFYA) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Afya (AFYA - Free Report) closed the latest trading day at $19.85, indicating a +1.17% change from the previous session's end. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.6%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.17%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.92%.

Coming into today, shares of the medical education company had lost 2.78% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Discretionary sector gained 3.27%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.56%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Afya in its forthcoming earnings report. On that day, Afya is projected to report earnings of $0.34 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 30.77%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $141.83 million, indicating a 27.8% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Afya. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.

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, 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. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Afya is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In the context of valuation, Afya is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 12.8. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 16.08, so one might conclude that Afya is trading at a discount comparatively.

We can additionally observe that AFYA currently boasts a PEG ratio of 0.73. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. Schools stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.07 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Schools industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 17, finds itself in the top 7% echelons 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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