In the latest trading session, Akamai Technologies (AKAM) closed at $132.31, marking a -1.41% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.57%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.64%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 1.15%.
Coming into today, shares of the cloud services provider had lost 10.99% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 2.85%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.14%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Akamai Technologies in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.58, signifying a 8.67% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $1.09 billion, indicating a 4.75% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $6.75 per share and a revenue of $4.49 billion, indicating changes of -5.2% and +6.8%, respectively, from the former year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Akamai Technologies. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.04% increase. Akamai Technologies currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
With respect to valuation, Akamai Technologies is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.88. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 16.81 for its industry.
Also, we should mention that AKAM has a PEG ratio of 2.44. 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 Internet - Services industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.69 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Internet - Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 153, placing it within the bottom 38% of over 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.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
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Akamai Technologies, Inc. (AKAM): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).