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PPL (PPL) Laps the Stock Market: Here's Why

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The latest trading session saw PPL (PPL - Free Report) ending at $24.11, denoting a +1.05% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.43%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.19%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 0.71%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the energy and utility holding company had lost 4.83% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Utilities sector's loss of 9.44% and lagged the S&P 500's loss of 2.1% in that time.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of PPL in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.46, reflecting a 12.2% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.2 billion, up 3.23% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.58 per share and revenue of $7.97 billion, which would represent changes of +12.06% and +0.87%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for PPL. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. PPL is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

With respect to valuation, PPL is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 15.08. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.79, which means PPL is trading at a premium to the group.

We can additionally observe that PPL currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.03. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Utility - Electric Power industry held an average PEG ratio of 2.66.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 82, positioning it in the top 33% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.


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