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Bank of America (BAC) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Bank of America (BAC - Free Report) closed at $34.28 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.99% move from the prior day. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.17%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.25%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.37%.

The nation's second-largest bank's shares have seen of 0% over the last month, not keeping up with the Finance sector's gain of 2.44% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.8%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Bank of America in its forthcoming earnings report. On that day, Bank of America is projected to report earnings of $0.77 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 18.09%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $25.22 billion, indicating a 3.94% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.14 per share and revenue of $99.7 billion, which would represent changes of -8.19% and +1.14%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Bank of America. 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.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.37% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Bank of America presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Bank of America currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.72. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 10.46, which means Bank of America is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that BAC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.53. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. Banks - Major Regional stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.49 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 31, putting it in the top 13% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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