Abbott (ABT) Rises Yet Lags Behind Market: Some Facts Worth Knowing

The latest trading session saw Abbott (ABT) ending at $114.31, denoting a +0.07% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.73%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.16%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.98%.Shares of the maker of infant formula, medical devices and drugs have depreciated by 3% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Medical sector's loss of 3.8% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 0.34%.Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Abbott in its upcoming release. On that day, Abbott is projected to report earnings of $1.34 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 12.61%. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $11.02 billion, reflecting a 7.64% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.67 per share and a revenue of $42 billion, representing changes of +5.18% and +4.71%, respectively, from the prior year.Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Abbott. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of 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. 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, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Abbott presently features a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).From a valuation perspective, Abbott is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 24.45. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 25.12, which means Abbott is trading at a discount to the group.We can additionally observe that ABT currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.69. 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. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Medical - Products industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.29.The Medical - Products industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 124, this industry ranks in the top 50% of all industries, numbering over 250.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.Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.Zacks Naming Top 10 Stocks for 2025Want to be tipped off early to our 10 top picks for the entirety of 2025?History suggests their performance could be sensational.From 2012 (when our Director of Research Sheraz Mian assumed responsibility for the portfolio) through November, 2024, the Zacks Top 10 Stocks gained +2,112.6%, more than QUADRUPLING the S&P 500’s +475.6%. Now Sheraz is combing through 4,400 companies to handpick the best 10 tickers to buy and hold in 2025. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these stocks when they’re released on January 2.Be First to New Top 10 Stocks >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Abbott Laboratories (ABT): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks