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Symantec (SYMC) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Symantec closed at $23, marking a +0.31% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.5%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.54%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.76%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the security software maker had lost 0.56% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 3.93% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.53% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from SYMC as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, SYMC is projected to report earnings of $0.39 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 15.22%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.21 billion, down 1.16% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.59 per share and revenue of $4.77 billion, which would represent changes of -5.92% and -1.54%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for SYMC. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. SYMC is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that SYMC has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.43 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 30.23, so we one might conclude that SYMC is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that SYMC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.83. 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 Computer - Software industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.13 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 23, which puts it in the top 10% 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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