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AT&T (T) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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AT&T (T - Free Report) closed at $39.07 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.08% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.3%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.27%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.3%.

Coming into today, shares of the telecommunications company had gained 4.61% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 3.51%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.69%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from T as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 29, 2020. On that day, T is projected to report earnings of $0.93 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 8.14%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $46.99 billion, down 2.1% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for T. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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 has moved 0.05% lower within the past month. T is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, T currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.95. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.95, which means T is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that T currently has a PEG ratio of 2.48. 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. Wireless National stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.21 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Wireless National industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 99, putting it in the top 39% 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.

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


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