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AT&T (T) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade

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AT&T (T - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $23.48, moving -0.14% from the previous trading session. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.82%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.22%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.77%.

Shares of the telecommunications company witnessed a gain of 6.14% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Computer and Technology sector with its gain of 1.43% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.8%.

The upcoming earnings release of AT&T will be of great interest to investors. On that day, AT&T is projected to report earnings of $0.48 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 11.11%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $32.29 billion, indicating a 0.85% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.19 per share and revenue of $122.33 billion, which would represent changes of -9.13% and -0.08%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for AT&T should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable 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 1.38% lower. AT&T currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, AT&T currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 10.74. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 21.98 for its industry.

Meanwhile, T's PEG ratio is currently 3.58. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Wireless National industry held an average PEG ratio of 3.07.

The Wireless National industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 141, putting it in the bottom 44% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.


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