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General Electric (GE) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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General Electric (GE - Free Report) closed at $13.13 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.68% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.7%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.32%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.23%.

Heading into today, shares of the industrial conglomerate had gained 13.67% over the past month, outpacing the Conglomerates sector's gain of 3.21% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.18% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from GE as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.01, down 80% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $17.6 billion, down 14.23% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $0.24 per share and revenue of $79.08 billion. These totals would mark changes of +2300% and -0.68%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for GE. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. 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, 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 3.8% lower within the past month. GE is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Digging into valuation, GE currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 56.26. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 20.62.

Investors should also note that GE has a PEG ratio of 13.24 right now. 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 Diversified Operations was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.97 at yesterday's closing price.

The Diversified Operations industry is part of the Conglomerates 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.

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


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