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United Airlines (UAL) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: Here's Why

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United Airlines (UAL - Free Report) closed the latest trading day at $69.05, indicating a -1.68% change from the previous session's end. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.55%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.14%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the airline had lost 25.14% over the past month. This has lagged the Transportation sector's loss of 7.37% and the S&P 500's loss of 6.22% in that time.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of United Airlines in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.88, marking a 686.67% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $13.54 billion, indicating a 7.96% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $12.65 per share and revenue of $61.05 billion. These totals would mark changes of +19.23% and +6.99%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for United Airlines. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 2.38% lower. United Airlines is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, United Airlines is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 5.55. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 8.44.

Investors should also note that UAL has a PEG ratio of 0.44 right now. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As the market closed yesterday, the Transportation - Airline industry was having an average PEG ratio of 0.64.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 43, putting it in the top 18% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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