Molina (MOH) closed at $109.48 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.22% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500’s daily loss of 1.23%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.28%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.13%.
Coming into today, shares of the provider of Medicaid-related services had lost 15.78% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 1.2%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.95%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MOH as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 29, 2019. On that day, MOH is projected to report earnings of $2.70 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 0.74%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.12 billion, down 12.31% from the prior-year quarter.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.50 per share and revenue of $16.59 billion. These totals would mark changes of +8.39% and -12.2%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MOH. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company’s business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.14% higher. MOH is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Investors should also note MOH’s current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 9.54. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.57, so we one might conclude that MOH is trading at a discount comparatively.
We can also see that MOH currently has a PEG ratio of 0.99. 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. Medical – HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.99 based on yesterday’s closing prices.
The Medical – HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 64, which puts it in the top 26% 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.
To follow MOH in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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