Facebook (FB) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Facebook (FB) closed at $221.32, marking a -0.05% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.03%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.03%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.14%.

Heading into today, shares of the social media company had gained 7.96% over the past month, outpacing the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 6.3% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.23% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from FB as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 29, 2020. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.51, up 5.46% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $20.87 billion, up 23.4% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for FB should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.88% higher. FB is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, FB currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 24.2. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 27.54.

Also, we should mention that FB has a PEG ratio of 1.17. 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. FB's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.35 as of yesterday's close.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 115, which puts it in the top 46% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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