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PPL (PPL) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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PPL (PPL - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $27.33, moving +1.64% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.43%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.02%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.32%.

Heading into today, shares of the energy and utility holding company had gained 3.03% over the past month, lagging the Utilities sector's gain of 7.84% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.65% in that time.

PPL will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, PPL is projected to report earnings of $0.43 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 53.57%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.62 billion, up 8.44% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.47 per share and revenue of $6.38 billion, which would represent changes of +40% and +10.28%, respectively, from the prior year.

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

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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 3.08% lower within the past month. PPL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that PPL has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.29 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.21.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 209, which puts it in the bottom 18% 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.

To follow PPL in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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