Yahoo Finance CF Industries (CF) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
CF Industries (CF) closed at $72.49 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.85% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.44%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.26%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 5.21%.
Heading into today, shares of the fertilizer maker had lost 17.27% over the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's gain of 0.43% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.28% in that time.
CF Industries will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.69, down 36.1% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.91 billion, down 33.44% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $9.95 per share and revenue of $7.81 billion, which would represent changes of -42.75% and -30.17%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CF Industries. 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 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 6.43% lower. CF Industries is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
Investors should also note CF Industries's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 7.23. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 7.25, which means CF Industries is trading at a discount to the group.
We can also see that CF currently has a PEG ratio of 1.2. 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 Fertilizers industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.95 as of yesterday's close.
The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 184, which puts it in the bottom 27% 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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CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF) : Free Stock Analysis Report
