AbbVie (ABBV) closed the most recent trading day at $213.85, moving -0.29% from the previous trading session. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.07%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.62%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.71%.

Coming into today, shares of the drugmaker had gained 11.2% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 0.53%, while the S&P 500 lost 7.03%.

The upcoming earnings release of AbbVie will be of great interest to investors. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $2.51, marking an 8.66% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $12.92 billion, up 4.94% from the year-ago period.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $12.30 per share and a revenue of $59.52 billion, indicating changes of +21.54% and +5.66%, respectively, from the former year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for AbbVie. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable 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 past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.15% lower. AbbVie is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In the context of valuation, AbbVie is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 17.43. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 14.74.

Investors should also note that ABBV has a PEG ratio of 1.46 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.32.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 66, placing it within the top 27% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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