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Clearfield (CLFD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Clearfield (CLFD - Free Report) closed at $73.40 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.42% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.89%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 10%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of fiber optic management products had lost 24.24% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 4.01%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.3%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Clearfield as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 2, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Clearfield to post earnings of $0.97 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 29.33%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $85 million, up 66.31% from the year-ago period.

CLFD's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.57 per share and revenue of $383.45 million. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +28.73% and +41.56%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Clearfield. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 7.68% lower. Clearfield is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Clearfield is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 15.84. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.22, so we one might conclude that Clearfield is trading at a premium comparatively.

The Wireless Equipment industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 88, which puts it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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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