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SQM (SQM) Dips More Than Broader Market: What You Should Know

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SQM (SQM - Free Report) closed the latest trading day at $45.86, indicating a -1.06% change from the previous session's end. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.28% for the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.08%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.42%.

The chemicals company's stock has climbed by 5.05% in the past month, exceeding the Basic Materials sector's gain of 4.7% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.67%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of SQM in its upcoming earnings disclosure. In that report, analysts expect SQM to post earnings of $0.78 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 70.34%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $1.1 billion, indicating a 51.55% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $3.81 per share and a revenue of $5.01 billion, demonstrating changes of -45.96% and -32.92%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for SQM. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 18.12% lower. SQM is holding a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that SQM has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.18 right now. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 13.03.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 217, positioning it in the bottom 14% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.


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