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CVS Health (CVS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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CVS Health (CVS - Free Report) closed at $80.27 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.97% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.3%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.95%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager had gained 9.82% over the past month. This has outpaced the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 1.21% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.21% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from CVS as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 14, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.12, up 10.42% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $50.34 billion, up 4.04% from the prior-year quarter.

CVS's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.03 per share and revenue of $189.50 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +19.15% and +2.56%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for CVS. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.38% lower. CVS is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, CVS is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 11.3. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.78, so we one might conclude that CVS is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that CVS currently has a PEG ratio of 1.14. 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 Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.14 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 41, which puts it in the top 16% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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