In the latest trading session, Hercules Capital (HTGC) closed at $15.69, marking a -1.26% move from the previous day. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.81% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.27%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.3%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the specialty finance company had gained 2.52% lagged the Finance sector's gain of 4.07% and outpaced the S&P 500's gain of 1.13%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Hercules Capital in its upcoming earnings disclosure. On that day, Hercules Capital is projected to report earnings of $0.5 per share, which would represent no growth from the year-ago period. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $148.9 million, indicating a 8.32% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.93 per share and revenue of $588.4 million. These totals would mark changes of +1.05% and +10.5%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Hercules Capital. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the business and profitability.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical 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. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. Hercules Capital presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, Hercules Capital is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.23. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 7.98.
The Financial - SBIC & Commercial Industry industry is part of the Finance sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 193, this industry ranks in the bottom 22% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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Hercules Capital, Inc. (HTGC): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).