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Services Sector's Biggest Movers: Priceline.com and More
On a good day for the market, the Nasdaq has risen 0.1%, the S&P 500 is trading up 0.2% and the Dow has moved up 0.3%.
The Services sector (IYC) is down 0.1% on a good day for the market overall. The biggest movers in the sector so far are:
Broker Summary: E-Trade Financial
Taking a 16% hit, Priceline.com (Nasdaq:PCLN) is currently trading at $571 per share. At 3.7 million shares, the company's volume so far today is which is more trading activity than there was yesterday. Volume indicates the level of interest that investors have in a company at its current price. Investors can use valuation ratios as tools to estimate what kind of deal a particular investment is. A price/sales ratio is derived by dividing stock market price by company sales. The P/S ratio for PCLN is 7.79, which is relatively high. This could be a good sign if the share price increases. It is important to compare P/S ratios for companies in the same industry, as ratios can vary quite widely for companies in different industries.
Kenexa (NYSE:KNXA) is currently at $30.60 per share after a dramatic increase of 15.6%. The company is currently trading a volume of 894,968 shares. Price change alone is not enough to know how a stock is doing. Volume is an important secondary indicator used to confirm trends suggested by price movement. A company's value as an investment is more easily estimated using valuation ratios such as the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. The debt ratio shows the proportion of assets that a company is financing through debt. KNXA has a low debt ratio of 43.7%. In other words, the company is less sensitive to changes in business or interest rates since less of its cash flow is dedicated to paying off loan expenses. As with all financial ratios, a company's debt ratio should be compared with the industry average or similar companies.
Lamar (Nasdaq:LAMR) has increased to a share price of $34.60, a 9.8% rise. The company's volume for the day so far is 4.7 million shares, 6.7 times its current three-month average. If a stock price makes a big move up or down, volume lets us know the significance of that move. It is important for an investor to estimate the value of any potential or existing investment; valuation ratios make this easier. The debt-equity (D/E) ratio compares the total liabilities for a company to its total shareholder equity. The D/E ratio for LAMR is 266%. This shows that the company's assets are financed primarily through debt. The D/E ratio is not a pure measurement of a company's debt because it includes operational liabilities in total liabilities.
Expedia (Nasdaq:EXPE) is currently trading at a share price of $55.10, a 6.4% decline. This morning, the company's volume is 4.6 million shares. This is 0.9 times its average daily volume. If a stock is trading on low volume, then there is not much interest in the stock. On the other hand, if a stock is trading on high volume, then there is a lot of interest in the stock. Investors can make use of valuation ratios to estimate whether a stock is fairly valued. The capitalization ratio is calculated by dividing long-term debt by the sum of long-term debt and shareholders' equity. EXPE has a capitalization ratio of 35.9%. The capitalization ratio is one of the more meaningful debt ratios because it focuses on the relationship of debt liabilities as a component of a company's total capital base, which is the capital raised by shareholders and lenders.
Tripadvisor (Nasdaq:TRIP) has fallen 5.6% and is currently trading at $36.51 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 2.3 million shares, above yesterday's volume of 2.1 million shares. Volume is also used as a secondary indicator to help confirm what the price movement is suggesting. Investment valuation ratios can be very useful in determining the value of a stock, but it is very important to keep in mind that while some financial ratios have general rules (or a broad application), in most instances it is a prudent practice to look at a company's historical performance and use peer company/industry comparisons to put any given company's ratio in perspective. There are generally two price/earnings ratios calculated: the first, called the trailing Price/Earnings ratio, is calculated using the previous years actual earnings; the second, called forward Price/Earnings ratio, is calculated using the next year's estimated earnings. TRIP's P/E ratio of 29.3 is above the industry average of 17.78. Generally speaking, the higher the P/E ratio, the higher the market expectations for a company's future performance. A high or low P/E ratio is not good or bad in and of itself, but a company trading with a high P/E ratio must continue to post strong financial performance or its stock price is likely to fall. SEE: How To Use The P/E Ratio And PEG To Tell The Future Of A Stock
Falling 5.5%, Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) is currently at a share price of $56.05. So far today, 854,100 shares have changed hands. A stock's volume conveys how excited investors are about it. Valuation ratios allow the investor to make a quick determination as to a company's investment value. The assumption with high price/earnings stocks (generally of the growth variety) is that investors are willing to buy at a high price because they believe that the stock has significant growth potential, and the price/earnings to growth (PEG) ratio helps investors determine the degree of reliability of that growth assumption. CLH has a PEG ratio of 1.68, which is consistent with the industry average. While P/E ratios are important indicators of market value, a high P/E in and of itself is not bad because it may indicate a company whose earnings are growing very rapidly, so many investors look at the PEG ratio in order to get an idea of whether or not a particular P/E ratio is justified by underlying earnings growth.
Slipping 5.4%, Zillow (Nasdaq:Z) is currently trading at $39.51 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 859,812 shares, one times its average over the past three months. High volume indicates a lot of investor interest while low volume indicates the opposite. Valuation ratios include the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. The price/book value ratio is one of the more common methods of determining whether a stock is fairly valued. Z's P/B ratio of 10.59 shows that its share price is higher than its book value. It is important to take the company's debt into account when using the P/B ratio as debt can boost a company's liabilities to the point where they wipe out much of the book value of its hard assets, creating artificially high P/B values. P/B value ratios are particularly useful to value investors, distressed or "vulture" investors, or any other investors purchasing beaten-down securities but are less useful to investors focused on growth stocks, purchasing IPOs, or investing in technology or other "asset-lite" companies. SEE: How Buybacks Warps The Price-To-Book Ratio
The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. Tools like valuation ratios and profit margins, however, are only as useful as the context you put them in; remember to take historical data and competitor performance into account.
The Services sector (IYC) is down 0.1% on a good day for the market overall. The biggest movers in the sector so far are:
| Company | Market Cap | Percentage Change |
| Priceline.com (Nasdaq:PCLN) | $33.85 billion | -16% |
| Kenexa Corporation (NYSE:KNXA) | $723.8 million | +15.6% |
| Lamar Advertising Co (Nasdaq:LAMR) | $2.94 billion | +9.8% |
| Expedia (Nasdaq:EXPE) | $7.99 billion | -6.4% |
| Tripadvisor Inc (Nasdaq:TRIP) | $5.5 billion | -5.6% |
| Clean Harbors Inc (NYSE:CLH) | $3.16 billion | -5.5% |
| Zillow Inc (Nasdaq:Z) | $1.2 billion | -5.4% |
Taking a 16% hit, Priceline.com (Nasdaq:PCLN) is currently trading at $571 per share. At 3.7 million shares, the company's volume so far today is which is more trading activity than there was yesterday. Volume indicates the level of interest that investors have in a company at its current price. Investors can use valuation ratios as tools to estimate what kind of deal a particular investment is. A price/sales ratio is derived by dividing stock market price by company sales. The P/S ratio for PCLN is 7.79, which is relatively high. This could be a good sign if the share price increases. It is important to compare P/S ratios for companies in the same industry, as ratios can vary quite widely for companies in different industries.
Kenexa (NYSE:KNXA) is currently at $30.60 per share after a dramatic increase of 15.6%. The company is currently trading a volume of 894,968 shares. Price change alone is not enough to know how a stock is doing. Volume is an important secondary indicator used to confirm trends suggested by price movement. A company's value as an investment is more easily estimated using valuation ratios such as the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. The debt ratio shows the proportion of assets that a company is financing through debt. KNXA has a low debt ratio of 43.7%. In other words, the company is less sensitive to changes in business or interest rates since less of its cash flow is dedicated to paying off loan expenses. As with all financial ratios, a company's debt ratio should be compared with the industry average or similar companies.
Lamar (Nasdaq:LAMR) has increased to a share price of $34.60, a 9.8% rise. The company's volume for the day so far is 4.7 million shares, 6.7 times its current three-month average. If a stock price makes a big move up or down, volume lets us know the significance of that move. It is important for an investor to estimate the value of any potential or existing investment; valuation ratios make this easier. The debt-equity (D/E) ratio compares the total liabilities for a company to its total shareholder equity. The D/E ratio for LAMR is 266%. This shows that the company's assets are financed primarily through debt. The D/E ratio is not a pure measurement of a company's debt because it includes operational liabilities in total liabilities.
Expedia (Nasdaq:EXPE) is currently trading at a share price of $55.10, a 6.4% decline. This morning, the company's volume is 4.6 million shares. This is 0.9 times its average daily volume. If a stock is trading on low volume, then there is not much interest in the stock. On the other hand, if a stock is trading on high volume, then there is a lot of interest in the stock. Investors can make use of valuation ratios to estimate whether a stock is fairly valued. The capitalization ratio is calculated by dividing long-term debt by the sum of long-term debt and shareholders' equity. EXPE has a capitalization ratio of 35.9%. The capitalization ratio is one of the more meaningful debt ratios because it focuses on the relationship of debt liabilities as a component of a company's total capital base, which is the capital raised by shareholders and lenders.
Tripadvisor (Nasdaq:TRIP) has fallen 5.6% and is currently trading at $36.51 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 2.3 million shares, above yesterday's volume of 2.1 million shares. Volume is also used as a secondary indicator to help confirm what the price movement is suggesting. Investment valuation ratios can be very useful in determining the value of a stock, but it is very important to keep in mind that while some financial ratios have general rules (or a broad application), in most instances it is a prudent practice to look at a company's historical performance and use peer company/industry comparisons to put any given company's ratio in perspective. There are generally two price/earnings ratios calculated: the first, called the trailing Price/Earnings ratio, is calculated using the previous years actual earnings; the second, called forward Price/Earnings ratio, is calculated using the next year's estimated earnings. TRIP's P/E ratio of 29.3 is above the industry average of 17.78. Generally speaking, the higher the P/E ratio, the higher the market expectations for a company's future performance. A high or low P/E ratio is not good or bad in and of itself, but a company trading with a high P/E ratio must continue to post strong financial performance or its stock price is likely to fall. SEE: How To Use The P/E Ratio And PEG To Tell The Future Of A Stock
Falling 5.5%, Clean Harbors (NYSE:CLH) is currently at a share price of $56.05. So far today, 854,100 shares have changed hands. A stock's volume conveys how excited investors are about it. Valuation ratios allow the investor to make a quick determination as to a company's investment value. The assumption with high price/earnings stocks (generally of the growth variety) is that investors are willing to buy at a high price because they believe that the stock has significant growth potential, and the price/earnings to growth (PEG) ratio helps investors determine the degree of reliability of that growth assumption. CLH has a PEG ratio of 1.68, which is consistent with the industry average. While P/E ratios are important indicators of market value, a high P/E in and of itself is not bad because it may indicate a company whose earnings are growing very rapidly, so many investors look at the PEG ratio in order to get an idea of whether or not a particular P/E ratio is justified by underlying earnings growth.
Slipping 5.4%, Zillow (Nasdaq:Z) is currently trading at $39.51 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 859,812 shares, one times its average over the past three months. High volume indicates a lot of investor interest while low volume indicates the opposite. Valuation ratios include the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. The price/book value ratio is one of the more common methods of determining whether a stock is fairly valued. Z's P/B ratio of 10.59 shows that its share price is higher than its book value. It is important to take the company's debt into account when using the P/B ratio as debt can boost a company's liabilities to the point where they wipe out much of the book value of its hard assets, creating artificially high P/B values. P/B value ratios are particularly useful to value investors, distressed or "vulture" investors, or any other investors purchasing beaten-down securities but are less useful to investors focused on growth stocks, purchasing IPOs, or investing in technology or other "asset-lite" companies. SEE: How Buybacks Warps The Price-To-Book Ratio
The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. Tools like valuation ratios and profit margins, however, are only as useful as the context you put them in; remember to take historical data and competitor performance into account.
by
Investopedia Staff
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