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AT&T (T) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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AT&T (T - Free Report) closed at $22.17 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.54% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.64% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.08%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.45%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the telecommunications company had lost 9.61% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 3.69% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.83% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from AT&T as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 26, 2022. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.76, up 1.33% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $41 billion, down 10.28% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.45 per share and revenue of $167.09 billion. These totals would mark changes of +8.49% and -2.72%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for AT&T should also be noted by investors. 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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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 0.22% lower within the past month. AT&T currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, AT&T currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 6.46. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 50.68.

Investors should also note that T has a PEG ratio of 1.76 right now. 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. T's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.76 as of yesterday's close.

The Wireless National industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 172, which puts it in the bottom 33% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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