Microsoft (MSFT) closed the most recent trading day at $204.03, moving -0.65% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500’s 0.05% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.48%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.61%.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the software maker had lost 1.6% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector’s gain of 0.29% and the S&P 500’s loss of 0.52% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MSFT as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.53, up 10.87% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $35.68 billion, up 7.93% from the year-ago period.
MSFT’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.39 per share and revenue of $155.21 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +10.94% and +8.53%, respectively.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MSFT. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. MSFT currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that MSFT has a Forward P/E ratio of 32.16 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 33.18, so we one might conclude that MSFT is trading at a discount comparatively.
Meanwhile, MSFT’s PEG ratio is currently 2.35. 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. MSFT’s industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.56 as of yesterday’s close.
The Computer – Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 67, putting it in the top 27% 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.
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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