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PPL (PPL) Increases Despite Market Slip: Here's What You Need to Know

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PPL (PPL - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $36.31, demonstrating a +1.74% change from the preceding day's closing price. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.55%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.19%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.95%.

The energy and utility holding company's stock has dropped by 2.25% in the past month, falling short of the Utilities sector's loss of 1.16% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.64%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of PPL in its upcoming earnings disclosure. In that report, analysts expect PPL to post earnings of $0.49 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 16.67%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $2.19 billion, indicating a 6.11% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

PPL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $1.82 per share and revenue of $8.67 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +7.69% and +2.5%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for PPL should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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 past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained steady. Right now, PPL possesses a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Digging into valuation, PPL currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 19.66. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.13, which means PPL is trading at a premium to the group.

We can also see that PPL currently has a PEG ratio of 2.56. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. The Utility - Electric Power was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.7 at yesterday's closing price.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 86, this industry ranks in the top 35% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.


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