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Union Pacific (UNP) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Union Pacific (UNP - Free Report) closed at $265.86, marking a +0.51% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.13%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.74%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.87%.

Heading into today, shares of the railroad had gained 5.3% over the past month, outpacing the Transportation sector's gain of 2.88% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.65% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Union Pacific as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Union Pacific to post earnings of $2.50 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 25%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.61 billion, up 12.22% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.48 per share and revenue of $23.67 billion. These totals would mark changes of +15.38% and +8.56%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Union Pacific. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-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. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.09% higher. Union Pacific is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking at its valuation, Union Pacific is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 23.05. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.71, which means Union Pacific is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that UNP currently has a PEG ratio of 2.3. 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. UNP's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.06 as of yesterday's close.

The Transportation - Rail industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 164, putting it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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