Why Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Outpaced the Stock Market Today

In the latest trading session, Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) closed at $306.01, marking a +2.58% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.83% gain on the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.5%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.38%.

The company's stock has dropped by 7.68% in the past month, falling short of the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 3.51% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.65%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Alphabet Inc. in its upcoming release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.76, down 1.78% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $91.69 billion, indicating a 19.88% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $11.6 per share and a revenue of $407.2 billion, representing changes of +7.31% and +18.75%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Alphabet Inc. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. 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.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 4.4% higher. Alphabet Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Alphabet Inc. is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 25.71. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 14.5.

Investors should also note that GOOG has a PEG ratio of 1.75 right now. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Internet - Services industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.75.

The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 178, which puts it in the bottom 28% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming 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 use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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