Sony (SONY) ended the recent trading session at $21.12, demonstrating a -1.26% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 1.01%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.77%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 1.4%.
Shares of the electronics and media company have appreciated by 5.21% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Consumer Discretionary sector's gain of 1.27%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.32%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Sony in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.33, up 10% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $16.67 billion, down 8.14% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $1.28 per share and a revenue of $78.16 billion, demonstrating changes of +12.28% and -5.72%, respectively, from the preceding year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Sony. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. Sony is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Sony has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.68 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.41, so one might conclude that Sony is trading at a premium comparatively.
We can also see that SONY currently has a PEG ratio of 1.7. 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. The average PEG ratio for the Audio Video Production industry stood at 1.7 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Audio Video Production industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 102, which puts it in the top 42% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow SONY in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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Sony Corporation (SONY): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).