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Werner Enterprises (WERN) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Werner Enterprises (WERN - Free Report) closed at $33.86, marking a +1.56% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.82% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.79%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.79%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the transportation company had gained 2.02% over the past month. This has lagged the Transportation sector's gain of 7.48% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.94% in that time.

WERN will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 4, 2019. In that report, analysts expect WERN to post earnings of $0.68 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 61.9%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $650.18 million, up 14.6% from the prior-year quarter.

WERN's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.32 per share and revenue of $2.46 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +82.68% and +16.37%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for WERN. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.29% higher. WERN is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, WERN is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.4. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.75.

It is also worth noting that WERN currently has a PEG ratio of 0.99. 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. Transportation - Truck stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.99 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Transportation - Truck industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 31, putting it in the top 12% of all 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.

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


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