In the latest trading session, Wells Fargo (WFC) closed at $53.37, marking a -1.37% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.24%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.49%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.04%.

– Zacks

Prior to today’s trading, shares of the biggest U.S. mortgage lender had lost 0.15% over the past month. This has lagged the Finance sector’s gain of 0.89% and the S&P 500’s gain of 0.73% in that time.

Wells Fargo will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Wells Fargo to post earnings of $0.83 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 20.95%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $17.92 billion, down 0.8% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.95 per share and revenue of $73.46 billion. These totals would mark changes of -20.2% and -5.85%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Wells Fargo. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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 has moved 1.46% higher within the past month. Wells Fargo is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

In terms of valuation, Wells Fargo is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 13.69. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 13.58, so we one might conclude that Wells Fargo is trading at a premium comparatively.

Investors should also note that WFC has a PEG ratio of 1.34 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 1.7 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 85, which puts it in the top 34% 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.

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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