Equity Review: Investors Taking a Second Look at AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) After Recent Market Moves

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) closed at $80.79 after the last trading day, drawing interest from investors and traders.  The stock trades on NYSE in the Medical sector and Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry.

Outstanding shares are common stock authorized by a company that are issued, purchased, and held by investors.  Outstanding shares include restricted shares owned by the company’s employees and officers as well as the public.  “Capital Stock” is the number of outstanding shares listed on a company’s balance sheet and is reported with the company’s quarterly filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.  AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s shares outstanding are 1514.27.

Average Volume is the amount of securities traded in a day on average over a specific time period.  Trading activity relates to the liquidity of a security.  When average volume is high, the stock has high liquidity and can be therefore easily traded, while conversely, when the trading volume is low, the commodity will be less expensive as traders are not as willing to purchase it.  Average volume has an effect on the price of the security. AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) has experienced an average volume of 5648925.

Market capitalization is the total dollar market value of a company’s shares.  It is calculated by multiplying a company’s shares outstanding by the current market price of one share.  Investors use this figure to figure out a company’s size, as opposed to just using total asset or sales figures.  Market capitalization is important because company size is a basic indicator of multiple characteristics in which investors are interested in, including risk.  It is easy to calculate.  For example, a company with 40 million shares selling at $100 a share would have a market cap of $4 billion.  Companies are ranked according to their market caps, ranking them as large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap.  Large-cap companies usually have a market capitalization of $10 billion and up.  These large-cap companies have typically been around for a long period of time, and they are usually major players in well-established industries.  Mid-cap companies have a market capitalization of $2 billion - $10 billion.  Mid-cap companies operate in industries expected to experience rapid growth.  Companies that have a market capitalization $300 million - $2 billion are classified as small-cap companies.  These companies are usually young in age and they could serve new industries as well as niche markets. AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s market cap is $122338.11.

There is nothing more important than earnings for stock prices.  Quarterly reports aid investors in getting a better understanding about how a company has been faring, along with its near-term outlook.

Many times, however, an earnings report could contain a surprise that really affects a stock stock price.  These earnings “surprises” can lead to big gains or inflict huge losses to a portfolio, so it is extremely important to find these surprises ahead of time.

Leading investment research firm focused on stock research, recommendations, and analysis, Zacks Investment Research have developed a method of predicting these surprises called “Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).  This method looks to find earnings surprises by focusing on the most recent analyst revisions.  This is because if an analyst reevaluates their earnings estimate immediately before an earnings release, it indicates that they have new information which could be more accurate than what analysts thought about a company prior.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s average EPS Surprise over the previous 4 quarters was 2.28. The previous EPS surprise percentage was 3.89% and the actual EPS used in the surprise was $2.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s Price Change % over the last week is -10.13%.  It’s % Price Change over the previous month is -14.18% and previous three months is -15.07%.  Finally, looking back over the past year-to-date, AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s Price Change % is -16.46%.

EPS is what each share is worth and indicates how much money their shareholders would acquire if the company was to pay out all of its profits for the last trailing twelve months.  Earnings Per Share is computed by dividing the profit total by its share total. If a company’s profit is $800 million and there are 40 million shares, then the EPS is $20.  EPS is a fantastic way to compare and contrast companies in the same industry.  When a company shows a steady upwards earnings trend, it is a good indicator that the company will dominate companies with a more volatile earnings trend.  AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s EPS over the trailing 12-months is $6.76.

The mathematical calculation that represents the degree of change over time is known as “percentage change”.  In finance, it serves many purposes, and is often used to represent the price change of a commodity.

AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV)’s current average broker recommendation is 2.33 with 5 brokers rating it a “Strong Buy/Buy”. 

Zacks Research business model centers around a strong commitment to independent research and sharing its discoveries with investors.  It’s their dedication to providing investors with a trading advantage that has led them to create the profitable Zacks Rank stock-rating system.  For over 25 years, it has more than doubled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +25% per year.   

After earning his PhD from MIT, Lew Zacks made his life’s work out of helping investors find success.  He hit upon a big discovery in 1978:  Earnings estimate revisions are the single most powerful force which impacts stock prices.

The Zacks Rank was developed based on this important finding in order to capture the power of earnings estimates.  It is a quantitative stock-rating system based solely on mathematics, not Wall Street influence.   

Since its inception, Zacks has created other products and methods such as Zackst ETF Rank; a proprietary quantitative model with a qualitative overlay for finding the greatest exchange-traded funds in the market.  Zacks Mutual Fund Rank which focuses not only on past performance, but also the future success of the fund.   Zacks Equity Research is professional-grade research that combines insight provided by equity analysts with quantitative models.  Zacks Price Response Indicator shows what a stock price could do after an earnings report.  Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) determines how likely an earnings surprise might occur before it’s reported and, finally, Zacks Most Accurate Estimate which knows the most accurate estimate for a stock, not just the consensus.       

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