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Centene (CNC) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Centene (CNC - Free Report) closed at $68.51, marking a +0.16% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.47% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.02%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 15.51%.

Heading into today, shares of the healthcare company had lost 10.28% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's loss of 4% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.53% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Centene as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Centene to post earnings of $2.33 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 27.32%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $36.56 billion, down 1.68% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.32 per share and revenue of $142.27 billion, which would represent changes of +9.34% and -1.57%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Centene. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.22% higher within the past month. Centene is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Centene currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.82. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 13.94.

We can also see that CNC currently has a PEG ratio of 0.8. 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. The Medical - HMOs industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.88 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 108, which puts it in the top 43% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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