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American Airlines (AAL) Stock Moves -0.07%: What You Should Know

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American Airlines (AAL - Free Report) closed the latest trading day at $13.99, indicating a -0.07% change from the previous session's end. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.29% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.35%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.3%.

The world's largest airline's shares have seen a decrease of 5.79% over the last month, not keeping up with the Transportation sector's gain of 3.75% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.42%.

The upcoming earnings release of American Airlines will be of great interest to investors. In that report, analysts expect American Airlines to post earnings of -$0.24 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 580%. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $12.53 billion, reflecting a 2.81% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.54 per share and revenue of $55 billion. These totals would mark changes of -4.15% and +4.19%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for American Airlines. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 4.44% lower. American Airlines is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that American Airlines has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.5 right now. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 8.89.

It's also important to note that AAL currently trades at a PEG ratio of 0.11. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. Transportation - Airline stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.73 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 79, this industry ranks in the top 32% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered 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.

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


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