Bank of America (BAC) ended the recent trading session at $42.29, demonstrating a -0.89% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.12%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 1.14%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.46%.

The nation's second-largest bank's shares have seen a decrease of 8.65% over the last month, not keeping up with the Finance sector's loss of 1.89% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.13%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Bank of America in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.81, indicating a 2.41% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $26.71 billion, reflecting a 3.47% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.70 per share and revenue of $108.36 billion. These totals would mark changes of +12.8% and +6.36%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Bank of America. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.37% higher within the past month. As of now, Bank of America holds a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In the context of valuation, Bank of America is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 11.53. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 13.26 for its industry.

One should further note that BAC currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.15. 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. Financial - Investment Bank stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.08 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Financial - Investment Bank industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 3, which puts it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in 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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Bank of America Corporation (BAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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