Back to top

Image: Bigstock

PPL (PPL) Ascends While Market Falls: Some Facts to Note

Read MoreHide Full Article

The latest trading session saw PPL (PPL - Free Report) ending at $28.22, denoting a +1.95% adjustment from its last day's close. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.88%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.08%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 1.95%.

The energy and utility holding company's shares have seen a decrease of 1.6% over the last month, surpassing the Utilities sector's loss of 4.05% and falling behind the S&P 500's gain of 5.11%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of PPL in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect PPL to post earnings of $0.31 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6.9%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $1.91 billion, indicating a 4.73% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.71 per share and a revenue of $8.77 billion, representing changes of +6.88% and +5.45%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for PPL. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. PPL is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Looking at valuation, PPL is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.19. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.56.

We can additionally observe that PPL currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.37. 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 2.53.

The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 96, finds itself in the top 39% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


PPL Corporation (PPL) - free report >>

Published in