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American Airlines (AAL) Rises But Trails Market: What Investors Should Know

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American Airlines (AAL - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $13.84, demonstrating a +0.14% swing from the preceding day's closing price. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.7%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.01%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.1%.

The world's largest airline's stock has dropped by 2.19% in the past month, exceeding the Transportation sector's loss of 2.76% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 4.03%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of American Airlines in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $1.31, reflecting a 31.77% decrease from the same quarter last year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $14.86 billion, reflecting a 5.72% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $2.60 per share and a revenue of $55.99 billion, signifying shifts of -1.89% and +6.06%, respectively, from the last year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for American Airlines. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 5.95% higher. As of now, American Airlines holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

From a valuation perspective, American Airlines is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 5.32. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 9.14.

Meanwhile, AAL's PEG ratio is currently 0.2. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Transportation - Airline industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.66 as of yesterday's close.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 195, putting it in the bottom 23% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in 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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