In the latest market close, Hercules Capital (HTGC) reached $18.84, with a +1.78% movement compared to the previous day. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.64% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.85%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.31%.

The specialty finance company's stock has dropped by 12.98% in the past month, falling short of the Finance sector's loss of 4.63% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.69%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Hercules Capital in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.46, reflecting an 8% decrease from the same quarter last year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $121.83 million, indicating a 0.23% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

HTGC's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $1.95 per share and revenue of $518.88 million. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -2.5% and +5.12%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Hercules Capital. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 2.01% lower. Hercules Capital currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

From a valuation perspective, Hercules Capital is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.47. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 8.91.

The Financial - SBIC & Commercial Industry industry is part of the Finance sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 127, which puts it in the top 50% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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Hercules Capital, Inc. (HTGC) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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