Humana (HUM) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
Humana (HUM) closed the most recent trading day at $499.79, moving +0.51% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.72%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.45%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.27%.
Coming into today, shares of the health insurer had gained 0.27% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 5.59%, while the S&P 500 lost 9.06%.
Humana will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Humana to post earnings of $6.19 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 28.16%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $22.68 billion, up 9.6% from the year-ago period.
HUM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $24.85 per share and revenue of $92.91 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +20.4% and +11.85%, respectively.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Humana. 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.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
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 0.62% higher. Humana is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.
Looking at its valuation, Humana is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 20.01. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.36.
Also, we should mention that HUM has a PEG ratio of 1.49. 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. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.16 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 99, putting it in the top 40% 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.
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