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Clearwater Paper (CLW) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Clearwater Paper (CLW - Free Report) closed at $39.46, marking a +1.1% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 3.06%. At the same time, the Dow added 2.8%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.19%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of pulp-based products had lost 7.53% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 1.23%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.15%.

Clearwater Paper will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Clearwater Paper to post earnings of $1.52 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 176.36%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $551 million, up 22.31% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.10 per share and revenue of $2.14 billion, which would represent changes of +298.06% and +20.78%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Clearwater Paper should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Clearwater Paper is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Clearwater Paper is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 9.52. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 6.1, which means Clearwater Paper is trading at a premium to the group.

The Paper and Related Products industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 55, putting it in the top 22% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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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