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LabCorp (LH) Stock Moves -0.27%: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, LabCorp (LH - Free Report) closed at $265.49, marking a -0.27% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 1.3% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.69%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.41%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the medical laboratory operator had lost 5.66% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's loss of 2.43% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.33% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from LabCorp as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect LabCorp to post earnings of $6.01 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 31.63%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.06 billion, down 2.32% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $19.54 per share and revenue of $15.4 billion, which would represent changes of -31.49% and -4.45%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for LabCorp. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 6.11% higher. LabCorp currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, LabCorp is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 13.63. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 20.06, so we one might conclude that LabCorp is trading at a discount comparatively.

The Medical - Dental Supplies industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 111, putting it in the top 44% 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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