Blue Bird (BLBD) Registers a Bigger Fall Than the Market: Important Facts to Note

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Blue Bird (BLBD) closed at $42.89 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.69% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.33%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.22%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 0.56%.

Heading into today, shares of the school bus maker had lost 6.31% over the past month, lagging the Auto-Tires-Trucks sector's loss of 4.84% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.83% in that time.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Blue Bird in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $0.78, signifying a 18.18% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $335 million, up 10.58% from the year-ago period.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Blue Bird. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional 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, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Blue Bird presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

With respect to valuation, Blue Bird is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 11.67. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.5, so one might conclude that Blue Bird is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that BLBD currently has a PEG ratio of 0.2. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. Automotive - Domestic stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.58 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Automotive - Domestic industry is part of the Auto-Tires-Trucks sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 183, putting it in the bottom 28% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.