Comcast (CMCSA) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Comcast (CMCSA) closed at $43.63, marking a -1.18% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.86% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.96%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.13%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the cable provider had lost 1.49% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Discretionary sector's gain of 5.47% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.66% in that time.

CMCSA will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.76, up 18.75% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $28.29 billion, up 1.59% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.07 per share and revenue of $108.82 billion. These totals would mark changes of +20.39% and +15.15%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CMCSA. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 0.12% higher. CMCSA is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note CMCSA's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 14.37. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.07.

It is also worth noting that CMCSA currently has a PEG ratio of 1.19. 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. The Cable Television industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.8 as of yesterday's close.

The Cable Television industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 33, which puts it in the top 13% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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