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Abbott (ABT) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Abbott (ABT - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $78.23, moving +0.33% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.08%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.06%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.07%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had gained 3.77% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector's loss of 0.22% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.52% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ABT as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be April 17, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.61, up 3.39% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $7.48 billion, up 1.17% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.20 per share and revenue of $31.80 billion, which would represent changes of +11.11% and +4.01%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for ABT should also be noted by investors. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. ABT is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking at its valuation, ABT is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 24.34. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 24.88.

It is also worth noting that ABT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.08. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Medical - Products stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.22 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 75, putting it in the top 30% 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.

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


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