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CF Industries (CF) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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CF Industries (CF - Free Report) closed at $73.23 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.06% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.84% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1.06%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.1%.

Heading into today, shares of the fertilizer maker had gained 7.4% over the past month, outpacing the Basic Materials sector's loss of 1.41% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.03% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from CF Industries as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 15, 2022. In that report, analysts expect CF Industries to post earnings of $3.41 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 752.5%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.63 billion, up 138.25% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for CF Industries. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. 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 4.49% higher within the past month. CF Industries is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, CF Industries is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 5.59. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.68.

We can also see that CF currently has a PEG ratio of 0.93. 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. The Fertilizers industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.83 as of yesterday's close.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 9, putting it in the top 4% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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