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American Airlines (AAL) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, American Airlines (AAL - Free Report) closed at $16.59, marking a +1.41% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.14%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.18%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.54%.

Heading into today, shares of the world's largest airline had lost 3.54% over the past month, lagging the Transportation sector's loss of 2.98% and outpacing the S&P 500's loss of 4.07% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from American Airlines as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0, up 100% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $12.25 billion, up 37.63% from the prior-year quarter.

AAL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.15 per share and revenue of $53.57 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +330% and +9.38%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for American Airlines. 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. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.46% higher. American Airlines currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that American Airlines has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.62 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.75.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 44, which puts it in the top 18% 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 AAL in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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