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Why Itron (ITRI) Outpaced the Stock Market Today

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In the latest close session, Itron (ITRI - Free Report) was up +1.05% at $124.00. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.59%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.65%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.44%.

The stock of energy and water meter company has fallen by 0.62% in the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 7.68% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.72%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Itron in its upcoming release. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $1.48, marking a 19.57% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $576.45 million, down 6.34% from the prior-year quarter.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $5.98 per share and a revenue of $2.37 billion, signifying shifts of +6.41% and -2.76%, respectively, from the last year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Itron. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional 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. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Currently, Itron is carrying a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, Itron is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 20.51. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 23.13 of its industry.

It's also important to note that ITRI currently trades at a PEG ratio of 0.68. 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. As the market closed yesterday, the Electronics - Testing Equipment industry was having an average PEG ratio of 2.65.

The Electronics - Testing Equipment industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 24, this industry ranks in the top 10% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.


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