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Control4 (CTRL) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Control4 closed the most recent trading day at $22.37, moving +0.72% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.06% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.83%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.72%.

Coming into today, shares of the provider of in-home automation and control services had lost 22.94% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 5.24%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.09%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from CTRL as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 14, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.42, up 5% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $73.06 million, up 6.9% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.43 per share and revenue of $273 million. These totals would mark changes of +19.17% and +11.55%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for CTRL. 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 company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.08% higher within the past month. CTRL is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that CTRL has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.59 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.57.

Meanwhile, CTRL's PEG ratio is currently 1.36. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Electronics - Miscellaneous Products was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.39 at yesterday's closing price.

The Electronics - Miscellaneous Products industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 195, which puts it in the bottom 24% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

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

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