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Novartis (NVS) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Novartis (NVS - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $101.91, moving -1.33% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.38%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.11%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.54%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugmaker had lost 0.04% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 0.38% and was narrower than the S&P 500's loss of 1.68% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Novartis as it approaches its next earnings release. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $13.6 billion, up 8.42% from the prior-year quarter.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Novartis. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. 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.

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 0.46% higher within the past month. Novartis is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Novartis's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 14.93. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.93, which means Novartis is trading at a no noticeable deviation to the group.

Meanwhile, NVS's PEG ratio is currently 1.64. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.64 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 161, putting it in the bottom 37% 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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