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Abbott (ABT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Abbott (ABT - Free Report) closed at $90.28 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.68% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.06%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.33%.

ABT will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.41, down 50% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.76 billion, down 15.23% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.81 per share and revenue of $31.21 billion, which would represent changes of -13.27% and -2.17%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for ABT. 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.

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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. ABT currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, ABT currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 32.33. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 34.11, so we one might conclude that ABT is trading at a discount comparatively.

Meanwhile, ABT's PEG ratio is currently 3.77. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Medical - Products stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.85 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 89, which puts it in the top 36% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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