Cummins (CMI) closed the most recent trading day at $237.79, moving +0.65% from the previous trading session. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.68%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.06%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.7%.

Coming into today, shares of the engine maker had lost 5.06% in the past month. In that same time, the Auto-Tires-Trucks sector lost 8.5%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.68%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Cummins as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Cummins to post earnings of $4.70 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 16.34%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $8 billion, up 25.27% from the year-ago period.

CMI's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $18.95 per share and revenue of $32.06 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +25.33% and +14.19%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Cummins. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.5% lower. Cummins is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Cummins has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.47 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.54, which means Cummins is trading at a premium to the group.

Investors should also note that CMI has a PEG ratio of 1.37 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 Automotive - Internal Combustion Engines industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.37 as of yesterday's close.

The Automotive - Internal Combustion Engines industry is part of the Auto-Tires-Trucks sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 103, which puts it in the top 41% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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