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Leidos (LDOS) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Leidos (LDOS - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $150.67, demonstrating a +1.5% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.96%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.89%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.94%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the security and engineering company had lost 2.65% lagged the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 2.53% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.5%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Leidos in its upcoming release. On that day, Leidos is projected to report earnings of $2.62 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 0.38%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $4.25 billion, indicating a 2.74% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $10.7 per share and a revenue of $17.11 billion, indicating changes of +4.8% and +2.67%, respectively, from the former year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Leidos. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.48% higher. As of now, Leidos holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

With respect to valuation, Leidos is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 13.87. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 20.72.

Investors should also note that LDOS has a PEG ratio of 1.8 right now. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Computers - IT Services industry stood at 2.07 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 88, placing it within the top 36% of over 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.

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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