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LabCorp (LH) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, LabCorp (LH - Free Report) closed at $203.87, marking a -0.09% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.35%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.23%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.26%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the medical laboratory operator had gained 3.87% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 5.16% and outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 3.27% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from LH as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect LH to post earnings of $7.36 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 157.34%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $3.87 billion, up 31.2% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $20.59 per share and revenue of $13.43 billion. These totals would mark changes of +81.89% and +16.25%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for LH should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest 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. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.56% higher within the past month. LH is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

In terms of valuation, LH is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.91. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 28.39, which means LH is trading at a discount to the group.

Also, we should mention that LH has a PEG ratio of 0.98. 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. LH's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.67 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Dental Supplies industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 100, putting it in the top 40% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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