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CF Industries (CF) Stock Moves -0.17%: What You Should Know

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CF Industries (CF - Free Report) closed at $81.68 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.17% move from the prior day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.57%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.05%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.04%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the fertilizer maker had gained 4.82% over the past month. This has outpaced the Basic Materials sector's loss of 0.72% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.64% in that time.

CF Industries will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect CF Industries to post earnings of $1.01 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 60.39%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.31 billion, down 43.57% from the year-ago period.

CF's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.99 per share and revenue of $6.58 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -54.03% and -41.13%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for CF Industries. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.

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 1.01% higher. CF Industries is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that CF Industries has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.24 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.37.

Meanwhile, CF's PEG ratio is currently 1.71. 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. CF's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.36 as of yesterday's close.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 236, which puts it in the bottom 7% 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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