Lam Research (LRCX) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

Lam Research (LRCX) closed at $291.84 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.73% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.34%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.05%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.69%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from LRCX as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect LRCX to post earnings of $4.19 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 15.75%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.72 billion, up 15.24% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $15.39 per share and revenue of $10.01 billion, which would represent changes of +5.77% and +3.71%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for LRCX should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

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 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. LRCX is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, LRCX currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.64. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 22.02, which means LRCX is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that LRCX has a PEG ratio of 1.46 right now. 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. LRCX's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.46 as of yesterday's close.

The Semiconductor Equipment - Wafer Fabrication industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 47, which puts it in the top 19% 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 LRCX in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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