PPL (PPL) Stock Drops Despite Market Gains: Important Facts to Note

PPL (PPL) closed at $36.21 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.15% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.03%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.58%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.28%. Coming into today, shares of the energy and utility holding company had gained 4.75% in the past month. In that same time, the Utilities sector gained 13.6%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.6%. The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of PPL in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect PPL to post earnings of $0.41 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 20.59%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $2.35 billion, indicating a 6.33% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. PPL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $1.81 per share and revenue of $8.74 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +7.1% and 0%, respectively. Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for PPL. 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. Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. 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. Over the past month, there's been a 0.1% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. PPL is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Valuation is also important, so investors should note that PPL has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.71 right now. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 17.57 for its industry. We can also see that PPL currently has a PEG ratio of 2.55. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. PPL's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.58 as of yesterday's close. The Utility - Electric Power industry is part of the Utilities sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 75, positioning it in the top 31% 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. Radical New Technology Could Hand Investors Huge GainsQuantum Computing is the next technological revolution, and it could be even more advanced than AI.While some believed the technology was years away, it is already present and moving fast. Large hyperscalers, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle, and even Meta and Tesla, are scrambling to integrate quantum computing into their infrastructure.Senior Stock Strategist Kevin Cook reveals 7 carefully selected stocks poised to dominate the quantum computing landscape in his report, Beyond AI: The Quantum Leap in Computing Power.Kevin was among the early experts who recognized NVIDIA's enormous potential back in 2016. Now, he has keyed in on what could be "the next big thing" in quantum computing supremacy. Today, you have a rare chance to position your portfolio at the forefront of this opportunity.See Top Quantum Stocks Now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PPL Corporation (PPL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks