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W.R. Berkley (WRB) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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W.R. Berkley (WRB - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $72.58, moving +0.01% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.4%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.03%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 4.72%.

Heading into today, shares of the insurance company had lost 2.37% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's loss of 3.82% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.57% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from W.R. Berkley as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, W.R. Berkley is projected to report earnings of $1.06 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 3.92%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.92 billion, up 13.9% from the prior-year quarter.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for W.R. Berkley should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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 0.96% higher. W.R. Berkley currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that W.R. Berkley has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.91 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.96, so we one might conclude that W.R. Berkley is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that WRB has a PEG ratio of 1.88. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Insurance - Property and Casualty was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.93 at yesterday's closing price.

The Insurance - Property and Casualty industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 193, which puts it in the bottom 24% 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.

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


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