Wells Fargo (WFC) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Wells Fargo (WFC) closed at $53.68, marking a +0.83% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.15%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 2.17%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 2.89%.

Coming into today, shares of the biggest U.S. mortgage lender had lost 1.97% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 4.98%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.16%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from WFC as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 11, 2019. On that day, WFC is projected to report earnings of $1.19 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 22.68%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $21.40 billion, down 2.94% from the year-ago period.

WFC's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.35 per share and revenue of $86.26 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +5.84% and -2.14%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for WFC should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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 0.18% higher. WFC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that WFC has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.25 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.57.

Investors should also note that WFC has a PEG ratio of 1.17 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 Banks - Major Regional industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.16 as of yesterday's close.

The Banks - Major Regional industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 82, which puts it in the top 32% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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