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TransAlta (TAC) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade

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In the latest trading session, TransAlta (TAC - Free Report) closed at $7.50, marking a -0.79% move from the previous day. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.88%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.54%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.35%.

Heading into today, shares of the power generation and marketing company had lost 6.2% over the past month, lagging the Utilities sector's loss of 6.12% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.64% in that time.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of TransAlta in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $0.28, signifying a 162.22% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for TransAlta. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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 varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained unchanged. Currently, TransAlta is carrying a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Looking at valuation, TransAlta is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.32. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 14.77.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 101, this industry ranks in the top 41% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.


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