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Wells Fargo (WFC) Rises Yet Lags Behind Market: Some Facts Worth Knowing

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Wells Fargo (WFC - Free Report) closed at $57.30 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.51% move from the prior day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.89%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 1.03%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.25%.

Heading into today, shares of the biggest U.S. mortgage lender had gained 10.12% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's gain of 3.13% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.56% in that time.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Wells Fargo in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on April 12, 2024. In that report, analysts expect Wells Fargo to post earnings of $1.09 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 11.38%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $20.16 billion, down 2.76% from the year-ago period.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.71 per share and a revenue of $80.3 billion, representing changes of -13.26% and -2.78%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Wells Fargo. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational 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. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.23% decrease. Wells Fargo is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

With respect to valuation, Wells Fargo is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 12.1. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 10.77.

We can also see that WFC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.19. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Banks - Major Regional industry stood at 1.58 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 84, placing it within the top 34% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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