Blue Bird (BLBD) closed at $35.36 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.69% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.58% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.75%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.55%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the school bus maker had gained 9.98% over the past month. This has outpaced the Auto-Tires-Trucks sector's gain of 5.01% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.84% in that time.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Blue Bird in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on May 7, 2025. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $0.96, showcasing a 7.87% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $390 million, up 12.74% from the year-ago period.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $4 per share and a revenue of $1.45 billion, signifying shifts of +15.61% and +7.92%, respectively, from the last year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Blue Bird. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Blue Bird currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Blue Bird's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 8.91. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 9.95.

One should further note that BLBD currently holds a PEG ratio of 0.82. 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. As the market closed yesterday, the Automotive - Domestic industry was having an average PEG ratio of 0.82.

The Automotive - Domestic industry is part of the Auto-Tires-Trucks sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 202, positioning it in the bottom 19% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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