In the last trading session, General Electric (GE – Free Report) closed at $81.77, marking a move of -1.46% from the previous day. This change fell behind the S&P 500’s 1.45% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.05%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 5.88%.
Today, the shares of the industrial conglomerate had lost 5.57% in the past month. In that same time, the Conglomerates sector lost 1.29%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.68%.
General Electric will be looking to show strength as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, General Electric is forecast to report earnings of $1.12 per share, representing year-over-year growth of 21.74%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $21.88 billion, up 7.79% from the year-ago quarter.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest that analysts are expecting earnings of $2.54 per share and revenue of $75.86 billion. These totals mark changes of +19.81% and +2.33%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes in analyst estimates for General Electric. These reviews typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret the positive estimates revisions as a good sign for the company’s business prospects.
Based on our research, we believe that these estimates revisions are directly related to stock moves close to the team. To benefit from this, we developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that takes these changes in estimates into account and provides an actionable ranking system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable and proven track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering average annual returns of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained stagnant in the past month. General Electric currently maintains a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, General Electric is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 32.7. Its industry has an average forward P/E of 14.73, so we can conclude that General Electric is trading at a premium comparatively.
We can also see that GE currently has a PEG ratio of 4.67. This metric is used in a similar way to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the growth rate of the stock’s expected earnings. GE’s industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.75 as of yesterday’s close.
The Diversified Operations industry is part of the Conglomerates sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 96, which places it in the top 39% 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 in each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% ranked industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information about all these metrics, and many more, at Zacks.com.
