In the latest trading session, Cigna (CI) closed at $166.46, marking a -1.83% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.5%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.54%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.76%.
Coming into today, shares of the health insurer had lost 11.79% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 1.8%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.53%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from CI as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, CI is projected to report earnings of $3.71 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 9.73%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $33.55 billion, up 193.94% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $16.41 per share and revenue of $136.25 billion. These totals would mark changes of +15.4% and +183.19%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for CI. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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 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 has moved 0.03% higher. CI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, CI currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.33. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.61.
Investors should also note that CI has a PEG ratio of 0.84 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Insurance - Multi line was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.09 at yesterday's closing price.
The Insurance - Multi line industry is part of the Finance sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 180, putting it in the bottom 30% 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI): Free Stock Analysis Report
Original post
Zacks Investment Research