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Verizon Communications (VZ) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Verizon Communications (VZ - Free Report) closed at $56.68, marking a -0.79% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.77% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.44%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.06%.

Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. cellphone carrier had gained 0.53% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 4.12% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.12% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from VZ as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.20, unchanged from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $32.41 billion, up 0.65% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.75 per share and revenue of $131.86 billion. These totals would mark changes of +0.85% and +0.76%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for VZ. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.05% higher within the past month. VZ is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Looking at its valuation, VZ is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 12.03. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.3.

We can also see that VZ currently has a PEG ratio of 2.83. 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. Wireless National stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.09 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Wireless National industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 80, putting it in the top 32% 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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