Abbott (ABT) Stock Moves -0.29%: What You Should Know

Abbott (ABT) closed at $79.26 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.29% move from the prior day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 5.18%. At the same time, the Dow lost 6.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 4.7%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs had lost 10.57% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's loss of 18.36% and the S&P 500's loss of 24.68% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ABT as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.70, up 11.11% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $7.98 billion, up 5.86% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.60 per share and revenue of $33.67 billion, which would represent changes of +11.11% and +5.54%, respectively, from the prior year.

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

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. ABT currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note ABT's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 22.09. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 22.09, so we one might conclude that ABT is trading at a no noticeable deviation comparatively.

We can also see that ABT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.09. 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. ABT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.09 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 52, putting it in the top 21% 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.