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Wells Fargo (WFC) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Wells Fargo (WFC - Free Report) closed at $45.26, marking a +1.96% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.21% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.97%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.35%.

Heading into today, shares of the biggest U.S. mortgage lender had lost 3.12% over the past month, outpacing the Finance sector's loss of 4.97% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.6% in that time.

WFC will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.19, up 5.31% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $20.79 billion, down 5.25% from the year-ago period.

WFC's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.80 per share and revenue of $83.54 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +12.15% and -3.32%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for WFC. 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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.09% higher within the past month. WFC is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

In terms of valuation, WFC is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.26. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 10.69, which means WFC is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, WFC's PEG ratio is currently 0.86. 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. The Banks - Major Regional was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.28 at yesterday's closing price.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 224, putting it in the bottom 13% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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