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Amgen (AMGN) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Amgen (AMGN - Free Report) closed at $259.43 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.98% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.14% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.22%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.09%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the world's largest biotech drugmaker had lost 2.93% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 1.74% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.27% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Amgen as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Amgen is projected to report earnings of $4.68 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 0.43%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $6.94 billion, up 4.27% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $18.35 per share and revenue of $27.11 billion. These totals would mark changes of +3.73% and +3%, respectively, from last 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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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, 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 0.21% higher. Amgen is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Amgen is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 13.86. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.1, so we one might conclude that Amgen is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that AMGN currently has a PEG ratio of 3.2. 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. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.18 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 91, putting it in the top 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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