This story originally appeared on Zacks

Amgen (AMGN) closed the most recent trading day at $226.69, moving +0.76% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500’s daily gain of 0.64%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.68%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.46%.

Coming into today, shares of the world’s largest biotech drugmaker had gained 11.13% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 5.28%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.56%.

Amgen will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Amgen is projected to report earnings of $4.22 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 10.76%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.9 billion, up 4% from the year-ago period.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Amgen. 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. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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 0.08% higher. Amgen is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Amgen has a Forward P/E ratio of 13.36 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 23.07.

It is also worth noting that AMGN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.6. 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. AMGN’s industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.65 as of yesterday’s close.

The Medical – Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 161, putting it in the bottom 37% of all 250+ industries.

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.

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

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Amgen Inc. (AMGN): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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