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Sterling Infrastructure (STRL) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Sterling Infrastructure (STRL - Free Report) closed at $76.09 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.73% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.57%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.05%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.04%.

Coming into today, shares of the civil construction company had lost 3.38% in the past month. In that same time, the Construction sector lost 2.67%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.64%.

Sterling Infrastructure will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.24, up 27.84% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $561.5 million, up 0.82% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.09 per share and revenue of $2 billion, which would represent changes of +29.43% and +3.84%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Sterling Infrastructure. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Sterling Infrastructure currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Investors should also note Sterling Infrastructure's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 18.92. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 18.57, so we one might conclude that Sterling Infrastructure is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that STRL currently has a PEG ratio of 0.95. 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 Engineering - R and D Services industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.49 as of yesterday's close.

The Engineering - R and D Services industry is part of the Construction sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 50, which puts it in the top 20% 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.

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


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