Cigna (CI) closed the most recent trading day at $332.12, moving -0.41% from the previous trading session. This change was narrower than the S&P 500’s 0.74% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.9%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.07%.
Coming into today, shares of the health insurer had gained 3.14% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector gained 1.97%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.74%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Cigna as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $4.84, up 1.47% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $45.83 billion, up 0.34% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $23.14 per share and revenue of $178.71 billion. These totals would mark changes of +13.04% and +2.66%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Cigna. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.
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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.14% lower within the past month. Cigna currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, Cigna currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.41. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 10.63.
Meanwhile, CI’s PEG ratio is currently 1.28. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company’s expected earnings growth rate. CI’s industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.33 as of yesterday’s close.
The Insurance – Multi line industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 136, which puts it in the bottom 47% of all 250+ industries.
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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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