SQM (SQM) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

SQM (SQM) closed the most recent trading day at $93.64, moving -1.86% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.15%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.71%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.08%.

Heading into today, shares of the chemicals company had gained 3.06% over the past month, outpacing the Basic Materials sector's loss of 7.87% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.44% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from SQM as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.11, up 903.23% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.03 billion, up 245.35% from the prior-year quarter.

SQM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $10.71 per share and revenue of $8.51 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +422.44% and +197.34%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for SQM. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 12.92% higher. SQM currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Digging into valuation, SQM currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.91. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 4.8.

Also, we should mention that SQM has a PEG ratio of 0.5. 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. SQM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.57 as of yesterday's close.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 47, which puts it in the top 19% 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.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.