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AbbVie (ABBV) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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AbbVie (ABBV - Free Report) closed at $82.30 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.58% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.73%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.51%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.34%.

Heading into today, shares of the drugmaker had lost 9.53% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's loss of 2.01% and the S&P 500's of 0% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from ABBV as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 7, 2020. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.20, up 15.79% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $8.70 billion, up 4.77% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for ABBV. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.69% lower. ABBV is holding a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that ABBV has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.67 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.59.

It is also worth noting that ABBV currently has a PEG ratio of 1.93. 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 Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.93 as of yesterday's close.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 101, putting it in the top 40% 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.


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