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GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK - Free Report) closed at $43.02, marking a -0.07% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.17%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.31%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the drug developer had lost 0.62% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 4.32% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.88% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from GlaxoSmithKline as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.73, up 15.87% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $12.28 billion, up 20.07% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.26 per share and revenue of $49.02 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.82% and +4.54%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for GlaxoSmithKline. 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.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.39% lower. GlaxoSmithKline is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note GlaxoSmithKline's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 13.22. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.92, so we one might conclude that GlaxoSmithKline is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that GSK has a PEG ratio of 1.94. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. GSK's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.26 as of yesterday's close.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 105, which puts it in the top 42% 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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