In the latest trading session, Eli Lilly (LLY) closed at $166.58, marking a +0.05% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.22%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.23%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.38%.
Heading into today, shares of the drugmaker had gained 14.31% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 3.32% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.78% in that time.
LLY will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, LLY is projected to report earnings of $2.34 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 35.26%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $7.23 billion, up 18.2% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.51 per share and revenue of $24.36 billion, which would represent changes of +24.34% and +9.14%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for LLY. 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.
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, 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 4.45% higher. LLY is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, LLY is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 22.17. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 13.8, so we one might conclude that LLY is trading at a premium comparatively.
We can also see that LLY currently has a PEG ratio of 1.52. 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 Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.19 as of yesterday's close.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 122, putting it in the top 48% 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY): Free Stock Analysis Report
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