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Amedisys (AMED) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Amedisys (AMED - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $179.12, moving +1.49% from the previous trading session. This move 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%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the home health care and hospice services provider had gained 6.24% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector's loss of 2.01% and the S&P 500's of 0% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from AMED as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.93, up 2.2% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $510.37 million, up 17.49% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for AMED. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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.

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 1.91% higher within the past month. AMED is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

Digging into valuation, AMED currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 35.39. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 30.31.

It is also worth noting that AMED currently has a PEG ratio of 2.15. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. AMED's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.48 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 162, which puts it in the bottom 37% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow AMED in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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