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Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $408.18, moving +0.72% from the previous trading session. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 1.1%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.91%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.35%.

The the stock of drugmaker has fallen by 12.22% in the past month, lagging the Medical sector's loss of 3.78% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.22%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in its upcoming earnings disclosure. On that day, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is projected to report earnings of $4.07 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 3.1%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $2.77 billion, up 10.07% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $0.49 per share and a revenue of $10.88 billion, demonstrating changes of -96.78% and +10.25%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.02% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 822.88. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 24.53, which means Vertex Pharmaceuticals is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that VRTX has a PEG ratio of 67.45. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.68 at yesterday's closing price.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 62, this industry ranks in the top 25% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.


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