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Gilead Sciences (GILD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Gilead Sciences (GILD - Free Report) closed at $87.19 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.06% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.29%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 10.96%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the HIV and hepatitis C drugmaker had lost 1.81% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's loss of 0.64% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.23% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Gilead Sciences as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Gilead Sciences to post earnings of $1.50 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 117.39%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.57 billion, down 9.29% from the prior-year quarter.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Gilead Sciences. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. 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. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.11% higher within the past month. Gilead Sciences is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Gilead Sciences currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.87. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.63.

It is also worth noting that GILD currently has a PEG ratio of 0.84. 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. Medical - Biomedical and Genetics stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.6 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 62, putting it in the top 25% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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