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Amgen (AMGN) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Amgen (AMGN - Free Report) closed at $234.90, marking a +1.87% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.7% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.87%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 2.77%.

Coming into today, shares of the world's largest biotech drugmaker had lost 4.34% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 4.27%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.06%.

Amgen will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Amgen to post earnings of $3.92 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 7.76%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.2 billion, down 0.56% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $17.72 per share and revenue of $28.1 billion, which would represent changes of +0.17% and +6.74%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Amgen. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.53% lower. Amgen is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Amgen's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 13.01. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.2, which means Amgen is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that AMGN has a PEG ratio of 1.86 right now. 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. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.54 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 100, which puts it in the top 40% 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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