Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Stock Moves -0.11%: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $223.79, moving -0.11% from the previous trading session. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 0.28% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.42%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.03%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugmaker had gained 2.12% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector's gain of 1.32% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 3.31% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from VRTX as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, VRTX is projected to report earnings of $1.20 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 7.69%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $996.44 million, up 14.52% from the prior-year quarter.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for VRTX. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-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. 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.

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 remained stagnant. VRTX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, VRTX currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 33.53. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 25.55.

We can also see that VRTX currently has a PEG ratio of 1.14. 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. Medical - Biomedical and Genetics stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.67 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 49, putting it in the top 20% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) - free report >>

Published in