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Why the Market Dipped But Quanta Services (PWR) Gained Today

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Quanta Services (PWR - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $643.50, moving +1.35% from the previous trading session. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.03% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.31%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.01%.

The specialty contractor for utility and energy companies's shares have seen an increase of 2.95% over the last month, surpassing the Construction sector's loss of 7.09% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.53%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Quanta Services in its upcoming release. The company is expected to report EPS of $5, up 50.15% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $10.96 billion, up 43.64% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $16.66 per share and revenue of $39.41 billion. These totals would mark changes of +54.98% and +38.37%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Quanta Services. 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. 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.

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 0.01% higher. Quanta Services presently features a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

With respect to valuation, Quanta Services is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 38.1. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 23.62 of its industry.

Also, we should mention that PWR has a PEG ratio of 1.73. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. PWR's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.46 as of yesterday's close.

The Engineering - R and D Services industry is part of the Construction sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 157, this industry ranks in the bottom 37% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

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