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Keysight (KEYS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Keysight (KEYS - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $169.40, moving +0.26% from the previous trading session. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.19%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.34%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.18%.

Heading into today, shares of the electronic measurement technology company had gained 7.72% over the past month, outpacing the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 2.47% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.84% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Keysight as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Keysight to post earnings of $1.99 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 9.34%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.4 billion, up 8.21% from the year-ago period.

KEYS's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.48 per share and revenue of $5.38 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +20.06% and +8.83%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Keysight. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.03% higher within the past month. Keysight is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Keysight has a Forward P/E ratio of 22.6 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.73, which means Keysight is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that KEYS currently has a PEG ratio of 2.05. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Electronics - Measuring Instruments stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.63 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Electronics - Measuring Instruments industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 93, which puts it in the top 37% 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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