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Eli Lilly (LLY) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Eli Lilly (LLY - Free Report) closed at $598.88 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.07% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.12%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.29%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugmaker had gained 9.64% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector's loss of 0.98% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.09% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Eli Lilly as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.88, up 45.45% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $8.92 billion, up 28.53% from the prior-year quarter.

LLY's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $9.71 per share and revenue of $33.62 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +22.29% and +17.79%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Eli Lilly. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of 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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.15% lower within the past month. Eli Lilly currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Eli Lilly is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 61.73. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.55, which means Eli Lilly is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that LLY has a PEG ratio of 2.5. 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. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.63 as of yesterday's close.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 163, putting it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow LLY in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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