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CVS Health (CVS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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CVS Health (CVS - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $64.97, moving +0.85% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.54% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.85%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.87%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager had lost 1.86% over the past month. This has lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 4.13% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.57% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from CVS as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.64, down 13.23% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $64.13 billion, up 1.1% from the prior-year quarter.

CVS's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.09 per share and revenue of $264.93 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +0.14% and +3.18%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CVS. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-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. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.18% higher. CVS is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, CVS is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 9.09. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 12.31, which means CVS is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that CVS has a PEG ratio of 1.44 right now. 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. Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.73 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 61, putting it in the top 25% 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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