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SQM (SQM) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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SQM (SQM - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $92.49, moving -0.45% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.02% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.03%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 5.44%.

Heading into today, shares of the chemicals company had gained 19.47% over the past month, outpacing the Basic Materials sector's gain of 8.62% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.57% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from SQM as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect SQM to post earnings of $3.80 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 236.28%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $3.11 billion, up 187.03% from the prior-year quarter.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for SQM. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. SQM is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that SQM has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.89 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 6.28, which means SQM is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, SQM's PEG ratio is currently 0.4. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. SQM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.85 as of yesterday's close.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 240, which puts it in the bottom 5% 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.

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


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