The latest trading session ended with United Airlines (UAL) trading at $41.99, representing a change of +0.55% from the previous trading day’s close. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which saw a daily gain of 0.42%. The Dow saw a gain of 0.14%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.57%.
The airline’s shares lost 13.4 percent over the past month, outpacing the transportation sector’s loss of 15.12 percent and lagging the S&P 500’s gain of 1.77 percent.
The investment community will be closely following United Airlines’ earnings performance in the upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect United Airlines to report earnings of $3.02 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 17.26%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate is for revenue of $15.02 billion, an increase of 3.7% from the year-ago quarter.
For the full year, analysts expect earnings of $9.63 per share and revenue of $56.82 billion, according to Zacks Consensus Estimates. These figures would represent a year-on-year change of -4.18% and +5.77%, respectively.
Investors may also notice recent changes in analyst estimates for United Airlines. These changes highlight the constant evolution in near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can view positive estimate changes as a sign of optimism about the company’s business prospects.
Research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock price momentum. Investors can take advantage of this by using the Zacks Rank. This model takes these estimate changes into account and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an admirable track record of outperformance that is independently audited. #1-ranked stocks have delivered an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings per share has moved 0.09% higher within the past month. United Airlines currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, United Airlines currently has a P/E ratio of 4.34. For comparison, the industry average P/E ratio is 9.48, which means that United Airlines is trading at a discount to the group.
Meanwhile, UAL’s PEG ratio is currently 0.68. This metric is used similarly to the well-known P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock’s expected earnings growth rate. As of yesterday’s close, UAL’s industry average PEG ratio was 0.89.
The Transportation – Aviation industry is part of the Transportation sector. The current Zacks Industry Rank of 225 puts this industry in the bottom 12% of all industries which include 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the strength of our individual industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% of industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Don’t forget to rely on Zacks.com in the following trading sessions to keep track of all these and other metrics that affect the stock.
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United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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