Bank of America (BAC) closed at $24.56 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.6% move from the prior day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500’s daily loss of 2.48%. At the same time, the Dow lost 2.83%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.04%.
Coming into today, shares of the nation’s second-largest bank had lost 7.52% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 8.4%, while the S&P 500 lost 8.82%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from BAC as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 16, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.64, up 36.17% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $22.37 billion, up 9.46% from the prior-year quarter.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for BAC. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-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.
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 0.49% lower within the past month. BAC is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that BAC has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.83 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 9.52, so we one might conclude that BAC is trading at a discount comparatively.
We can also see that BAC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.1. 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 Banks – Major Regional industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.01 as of yesterday’s close.
The Banks – Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 101, which puts it in the top 39% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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