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Union Pacific (UNP) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Union Pacific (UNP - Free Report) closed at $202.74, marking a +1.92% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.08%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.68%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.61%.

Heading into today, shares of the railroad had gained 1.05% over the past month, lagging the Transportation sector's gain of 2.95% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.1% in that time.

Union Pacific will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Union Pacific is projected to report earnings of $2.78 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 5.12%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.16 billion, down 1.7% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.32 per share and revenue of $24.67 billion. These totals would mark changes of -0.09% and -0.83%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Union Pacific. 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.

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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.18% lower within the past month. Union Pacific is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Union Pacific's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 17.58. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.58, so we one might conclude that Union Pacific is trading at a no noticeable deviation comparatively.

Investors should also note that UNP has a PEG ratio of 1.76 right now. 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. UNP's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.3 as of yesterday's close.

The Transportation - Rail industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 96, putting 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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