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Eli Lilly (LLY) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $163.88, moving +1.11% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.34%. At the same time, the Dow added 2.13%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.94%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugmaker had gained 14.53% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector's gain of 2.85% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.92% in that time.

LLY will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 30, 2020. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.58, up 5.33% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.81 billion, up 3.12% from the year-ago period.

LLY's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.82 per share and revenue of $24 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +12.91% and +7.51%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for LLY should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.1% higher. LLY is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, LLY is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.78. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.31, so we one might conclude that LLY is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that LLY currently has a PEG ratio of 1.5. 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. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.13 as of yesterday's close.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 26, which puts it in the top 11% 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.

To follow LLY in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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