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Lam Research (LRCX) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Lam Research (LRCX - Free Report) closed at $153.12 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.86% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.53%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.57%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.75%.

Coming into today, shares of the semiconductor equipment maker had lost 13% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 0.86%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.16%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from LRCX as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be October 16, 2018. In that report, analysts expect LRCX to post earnings of $3.20 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 7.51%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $2.30 billion, down 7.03% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $15.51 per share and revenue of $10.53 billion, which would represent changes of -13.21% and -4.97%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for LRCX. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. LRCX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note LRCX's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 9.69. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 11.04, so we one might conclude that LRCX is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that LRCX currently has a PEG ratio of 0.58. 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. LRCX's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.13 as of yesterday's close.

The Semiconductor Equipment - Wafer Fabrication industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 37, which puts it in the top 15% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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