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Amedisys (AMED) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Amedisys (AMED - Free Report) closed at $127 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.09% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.32% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.38%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.74%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the home health care and hospice services provider had gained 14.57% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector's gain of 2.08% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.16% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from AMED as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 26, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.85, up 51.79% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $426.49 million, up 5.5% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for AMED. 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.

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 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. AMED is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Investors should also note AMED's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 31.42. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 22.94.

Also, we should mention that AMED has a PEG ratio of 1.67. 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. Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.78 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 85, which puts it in the top 34% 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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