Illumina (ILMN) closed at $328.96 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.73% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.03%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.36%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.04%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the genetic testing tools company had lost 6.93% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's loss of 2.89% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.08% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from ILMN as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 23, 2018. On that day, ILMN is projected to report earnings of $1.25 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 12.61%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $825.07 million, up 15.56% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.46 per share and revenue of $3.31 billion, which would represent changes of +36.5% and +20.37%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for ILMN. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.12% higher within the past month. ILMN is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note ILMN's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 59.78. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 27.69, so we one might conclude that ILMN is trading at a premium comparatively.

Investors should also note that ILMN has a PEG ratio of 2.7 right now. 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. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.96 at yesterday's closing price.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 91, putting it in the top 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

To follow ILMN in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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