MP Materials Corp. (MP) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, MP Materials Corp. (MP) closed at $35.57, marking a +1.34% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.46% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.17%.

Coming into today, shares of the company had lost 9.28% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 3.64%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.94%.

MP Materials Corp. will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect MP Materials Corp. to post earnings of $0.32 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 113.33%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $124.74 million, up 70.6% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.40 per share and revenue of $531.59 million. These totals would mark changes of +53.85% and +60.14%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MP Materials Corp.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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.85% higher within the past month. MP Materials Corp. currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that MP Materials Corp. has a Forward P/E ratio of 25.04 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 7.75, which means MP Materials Corp. is trading at a premium to the group.

Meanwhile, MP's PEG ratio is currently 1.37. 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. Mining - Miscellaneous stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.6 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Mining - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, which puts it in the top 42% 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 MP in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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