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Zynga (ZNGA) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Zynga closed at $9.26, marking a +0.87% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.71% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.27%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.14%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of "FarmVille" and other online games had 0% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Discretionary sector lost 2.83%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.76%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Zynga as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.09, up 12.5% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $735.25 million, up 2.19% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $0.40 per share and revenue of $3.11 billion, which would represent changes of +42.86% and +11.35%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Zynga. 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. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Zynga is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Zynga's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 23.03. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.63.

The Gaming industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 168, putting it in the bottom 34% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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