Hercules Capital (HTGC) closed the latest trading day at $16.83, indicating no change from the previous session's end. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.81%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 1.56%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 2.06%.

Coming into today, shares of the specialty finance company had lost 6.55% in the past month. In that same time, the Finance sector lost 4.82%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.14%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Hercules Capital in its upcoming release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.46, down 8% from the prior-year quarter. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $121.83 million, showing a 0.23% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $1.95 per share and a revenue of $518.17 million, indicating changes of -2.5% and +4.98%, respectively, from the former year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Hercules Capital. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.2% lower. As of now, Hercules Capital holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

From a valuation perspective, Hercules Capital is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.63. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.97.

The Financial - SBIC & Commercial Industry industry is part of the Finance sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 183, positioning it in the bottom 27% 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.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming 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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