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Eaton (ETN) Laps the Stock Market: Here's Why

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Eaton (ETN - Free Report) closed at $365.56 in the latest trading session, marking a +2.21% move from the prior day. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.72% for the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.48%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.16%.

Shares of the power management company witnessed a gain of 0.59% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Industrial Products sector with its loss of 8.42%, and the S&P 500's loss of 4.99%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Eaton in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.75, up 1.1% from the prior-year quarter. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $7.09 billion, showing a 11.14% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $13.35 per share and a revenue of $30.37 billion, representing changes of +10.6% and +10.63%, respectively, from the prior year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Eaton. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, 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 a 0.17% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Right now, Eaton possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Eaton has a Forward P/E ratio of 26.79 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 23.49, so one might conclude that Eaton is trading at a premium comparatively.

Investors should also note that ETN has a PEG ratio of 2.46 right now. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The average PEG ratio for the Manufacturing - Electronics industry stood at 1.72 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Manufacturing - Electronics industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 81, which puts it in the top 34% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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