Stock market investing can sometimes cause investors heads to spin. Following stocks on a daily basis, it is plain to see the amount of coverage that follows certain companies. This non-stop barrage of information may eventually become overwhelming for the novice investor. Filtering through all the data may involve taking a look at a company or stock from multiple angles. There are many investors out there that preach strictly following fundamental data. There are others that swear by the technical analysis. Many investors will opt to employ a research strategy that involves pieces of the two approaches. Knowing every little detail about a company may not be overly necessary, but it may help provide a bit more direction when navigating the stock market maze. Investors who put in the time to study all the fundamentals may want to also start watching the charts on stock that they are thinking about adding to the portfolio. Making sure that no stone is left unturned when examining a stock may end up being the difference between a big winner and a big loser.
Investors may be taking a look at certain business aspects when attempting to research a stock. Investors often look to see if the stock’s specific industry is on the rise. There may be a greater chance of success when investing in an industry that is rapidly growing. Investors may then want to see how the company stacks up within the industry. Many investors will look for stocks that are proven industry leaders. Industry leaders have the ability to influence pricing and not necessarily be susceptible to what other companies are doing around them. Investors may also be taking note of how a company invests in research and development. Companies that are focused on the future may have a competitive advantage over those who are too focused on the near-term.
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX), of the Healthcare sector recently touched $127.60 based on a recent trade, indicating movement of 0.00%. Analysts are predicting earnings per share growth of 18.70% for the current year. The earnings per share growth over the next five years are expected to be 7.92%. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has had earnings per share growth of 10.20% over the past five years.
Currently the return on equity is 14.10% and its debt to equity is 0.71. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a total market cap of $16868.72, a gross margin of 34.30% while the profit margin is 10.30% and the ROI is 9.40%.
Performance
The stats on Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) are currently as follows. The weekly performance is 3.17%, and the quarterly performance is at 26.76%. The monthly performance is 19.30% and the yearly performance is 19.30%. The performance for Year to Date (YTD) is 19.49%.
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has posted a trailing 12 months earnings per share of $5.66 and the earnings per share growth for this year is expected to be 18.70%. The ROI is 9.40% and the return on equity for Quest Diagnostics Incorporated stated earlier, is currently at 14.10% .The return on assets (ROA) for Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is 6.50%.
Earnings per share (EPS) the amount of income that “belongs” to each share of common stock. This is a valuable tool that investors use to determine the value and projected value of a stock. Earnings per share is generally reported in annualized form from the most recent fiscal year. To determine the value, the average number of shares outstanding is usually calculated by averaging the number of shares at the beginning of the fiscal period and the number of shares at the end of the period.
Technicals
The technical stats for Quest Diagnostics Incorporated are as follows. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) is trading 74.75% away from the stock’s 52-week low and -3.19% off of the 52-week high. Current levels place the company 7.00% away from it’s 20-day simple moving average. The average volume stands around 8066. Trading volume is a hugely important consideration for any investor. By watching how many shares are trading hands and looking for any changes in that activity, trading opportunities can be spotted along with a deeper understanding of the reliability of other indicators on the stock. A significant increase in trading volume means that more than double the average amount of stocks are moving. When volume is decreased significantly, it may indicate there is an issue that shareholders should watch out for. It’s also important to take into consideration how long the unusual volume sustains for. If it’s only the one trading day, it can be dismissed as an anomaly.
The current stock levels place it 20.42% away from the 200 day moving average. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a beta of 1.37 and the weekly and monthly volatility stands at 2.57% and 2.80% respectively. The simple moving average is the most common method used to calculate the moving average of prices. It takes the sum of all of the past closing prices over a specific time period and divides the result by the number of prices used in the calculation. Increasing the number of time periods in the calculation is an effective way to ascertain the strength of the long-term trend and/or the likelihood that it might reverse. Some argue that this type of average is not necessarily useful because each data point in the series has the exact same impact on the result no matter where it occurs in the sequence.
Beta is used to measure a stock’s price volatility relative to the market. A stock with a beta of “0” indicates that its price is not correlated with the market. A positive beta indicates that the stock follows the market. A negative beta means that the stock inversely follows the market, decreasing in value when the market goes up.
Price Earnings Ratio
The price/earnings ratio (P/E) for Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is 22.53 and the forward P/E ratio stands at 15.91. The price to sales growth is 2.20. The price/earnings ratio (P/E) is a market prospect ratio which calculates the value of a stock relative to its earnings. On other words, the P/E ratio is and indicator of what investors are will to pay for a stock relative to its earnings. A firm with a high P/E ratio typically indicates that investors are willing to pay a premium for the stock and higher performance in future quarters would be anticipated. Going a step further we can also look at the PEG ratio of a company. A stock’s price/earnings ratio divided by its year-over-year earnings growth rate. In general, the lower the PEG, the better the value, because the investor would be paying less for each unit of earnings growth.
Figuring out when to sell a stock can be just as important as deciding what stocks to buy at the outset. Some investors may refuse to sell based on various factors. Investors may have become stubborn, too emotionally attached, or set too high of an expectation for a stock. Holding on to a stock for way too long in order to squeeze every last drop of profit out of a price move may leave the investor desperately searching for answers in the future. Investors may have different checklists for when it is time to sell a stock. Of course this depends largely on the individual and how much is at risk. Often times, investors will make a move to sell when the fundamentals drastically change, the dividend is cut, or a previous set target price has been hit. Getting out of a position at the right time is obviously not easy, but it may become a bit easier with time and rese arch.
