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Here's Why Workday (WDAY) Gained But Lagged the Market Today

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Workday (WDAY - Free Report) closed at $236.44 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.4% move from the prior day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.56%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 1.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 2.21%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of human resources software had gained 4.38% outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 1.06% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.41%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Workday in its forthcoming earnings report. In that report, analysts expect Workday to post earnings of $2.12 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 12.17%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $2.42 billion, indicating a 11.84% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

WDAY's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.84 per share and revenue of $9.51 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +21.1% and +12.63%, respectively.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Workday. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. 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, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.58% higher within the past month. At present, Workday boasts a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

In the context of valuation, Workday is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 26.37. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 28.54 for its industry.

Also, we should mention that WDAY has a PEG ratio of 1.24. 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 Internet - Software was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.09 at yesterday's closing price.

The Internet - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 77, positioning it in the top 32% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

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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