In the latest trading session, Cerner (CERN) closed at $91.37, marking a -0.37% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.22%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.19%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.53%.
Coming into today, shares of the health care information technology company had lost 0.59% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 11.24%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.58%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Cerner as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Cerner is projected to report earnings of $0.88 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 12.82%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.49 billion, up 6.53% from the prior-year quarter.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Cerner. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Cerner is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
In terms of valuation, Cerner is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 24.9. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 20.61.
Investors should also note that CERN has a PEG ratio of 1.95 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Medical Info Systems was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.95 at yesterday's closing price.
The Medical Info Systems industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 109, putting it in the top 43% 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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Download FREE: How to Profit from Trillions on Spending for Infrastructure >> Click to get this free report Cerner Corporation (CERN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
