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Amgen (AMGN) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Amgen (AMGN - Free Report) closed at $203.70, marking a +0.88% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.32%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.38%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.74%.

Heading into today, shares of the world's largest biotech drugmaker had gained 9.17% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 2.08% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.16% in that time.

AMGN will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 29, 2019. In that report, analysts expect AMGN to post earnings of $3.25 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 12.46%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.86 billion, up 1.06% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for AMGN. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

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 0.86% higher. AMGN is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that AMGN has a Forward P/E ratio of 13.94 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.94.

It is also worth noting that AMGN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.02. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.51 at yesterday's closing price.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 64, putting it in the top 25% 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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