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Wells Fargo (WFC) Beats Stock Market Upswing: What Investors Need to Know

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The most recent trading session ended with Wells Fargo (WFC - Free Report) standing at $54.51, reflecting a +1.34% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.03%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.04%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.2%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the biggest U.S. mortgage lender had lost 4.71% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector's gain of 2.72% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.54% in that time.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Wells Fargo in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.27, signifying an 8.63% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $20.39 billion, reflecting a 2.24% fall from the equivalent quarter last year.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $5.10 per share and a revenue of $82.27 billion, indicating changes of -6.08% and -0.4%, respectively, from the former year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Wells Fargo. 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.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending 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, 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 moved 0.27% lower. Right now, Wells Fargo possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Wells Fargo is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.56. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 12.15.

It is also worth noting that WFC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.28. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Banks - Major Regional was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.5 at yesterday's closing price.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 49, placing it within the top 20% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

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


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