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United Airlines (UAL) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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United Airlines (UAL - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $37.39, moving +1.3% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.29%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.18%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.07%.

Coming into today, shares of the airline had gained 4.44% in the past month. In that same time, the Transportation sector gained 7.59%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.36%.

United Airlines will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect United Airlines to post earnings of $2.19 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 314.71%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $12.62 billion, up 62.81% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $0.60 per share and revenue of $43.92 billion, which would represent changes of +104.3% and +78.31%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for United Airlines. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest 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. 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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 57.08% higher within the past month. United Airlines currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that United Airlines has a Forward P/E ratio of 61.83 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 13.21, so we one might conclude that United Airlines is trading at a premium comparatively.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 131, putting it in the bottom 49% 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 UAL in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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