Gilead Sciences (GILD) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

Gilead Sciences (GILD) closed the most recent trading day at $74.56, moving -0.01% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.47%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 2.32%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.2%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the HIV and hepatitis C drugmaker had lost 1% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's loss of 0.38% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.74% in that time.

GILD will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.57, down 13.74% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $5.35 billion, down 5.81% from the year-ago period.

GILD's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.40 per share and revenue of $22.55 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -3.47% and +0.43%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for GILD. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.17% higher. GILD is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that GILD has a Forward P/E ratio of 11.65 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 30.5.

It is also worth noting that GILD currently has a PEG ratio of 3.37. 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 Medical - Biomedical and Genetics was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.01 at yesterday's closing price.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 51, 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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