Yahoo Finance Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) closed at $86.14 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.98% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 6.24% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 6.38%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 5.6%.
Heading into today, shares of the drugmaker had lost 10.88% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's loss of 16.27% and the S&P 500's loss of 21.22% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from ALXN as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect ALXN to post earnings of $2.71 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 13.39%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.35 billion, up 18.62% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.05 per share and revenue of $5.62 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.94% and +12.53%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for ALXN. 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.
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.
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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. ALXN is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, ALXN currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.64. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 27.29.
Meanwhile, ALXN's PEG ratio is currently 0.6. 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. ALXN's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.46 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 58, which puts it in the top 23% 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 ALXN in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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