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Gilead Sciences (GILD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Gilead Sciences (GILD - Free Report) closed at $79.85, marking a +0.25% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.76%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.17%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 3.03%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the HIV and hepatitis C drugmaker had lost 6.35% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's loss of 4.26% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.94% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Gilead Sciences as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.61, down 24.06% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.42 billion, down 2.55% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.84 per share and revenue of $26.65 billion, which would represent changes of -5.79% and -2.31%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Gilead Sciences. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 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 0.14% lower within the past month. Gilead Sciences is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

In terms of valuation, Gilead Sciences is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 11.64. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.3.

Also, we should mention that GILD has a PEG ratio of 0.95. 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. Medical - Biomedical and Genetics stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.53 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 96, which puts it in the top 39% 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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