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American Airlines (AAL) Outperforms Broader Market: What You Need to Know

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American Airlines (AAL - Free Report) closed at $13.62 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.57% move from the prior day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.74%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.01%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.68%.

Shares of the world's largest airline witnessed a loss of 4.21% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Transportation sector with its gain of 6.39% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.8%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of American Airlines in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be -$0.29, reflecting a 680% decrease from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $12.6 billion, indicating a 3.39% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.53 per share and revenue of $55.42 billion. These totals would mark changes of -4.53% and +4.99%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for American Airlines. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. 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, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.5% lower. As of now, American Airlines holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, American Airlines currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.3. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 9.25, which means American Airlines is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that AAL has a PEG ratio of 0.11 right now. 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 Transportation - Airline industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.72 as of yesterday's close.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 88, which puts it in the top 35% 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.

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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