Coca-Cola (KO) ended the recent trading session at $70.02, demonstrating a +1.76% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 1.12%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.31%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 2.04%.
The world's largest beverage maker's shares have seen a decrease of 3.75% over the last month, not keeping up with the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 1.81% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.91%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Coca-Cola in its forthcoming earnings report. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.72, reflecting no change from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $11.15 billion, indicating a 1.28% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $2.96 per share and a revenue of $47.98 billion, signifying shifts of +2.78% and +1.94%, respectively, from the last year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Coca-Cola. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Coca-Cola currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, Coca-Cola currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.27. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 18.6 of its industry.
One should further note that KO currently holds a PEG ratio of 3.72. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Beverages - Soft drinks industry held an average PEG ratio of 2.61.
The Beverages - Soft drinks industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 72, which puts it in the top 29% 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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CocaCola Company (The) (KO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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