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Match Group (MTCH) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Match Group (MTCH - Free Report) closed at $72.57, marking a +1.1% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.41%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.39%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.57%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the online dating company had gained 1.48% over the past month. This has outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 2.4% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.1% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MTCH as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.45, up 9.76% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $488.63 million, up 16.01% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.91 per share and revenue of $2.01 billion. These totals would mark changes of +25.66% and +16.35%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MTCH. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. MTCH currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Investors should also note MTCH's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 37.68. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 27.08, which means MTCH is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that MTCH has a PEG ratio of 2.49. 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 Internet - Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.87 as of yesterday's close.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 72, putting it in the top 29% 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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