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Verso Corporation (VRS) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Verso Corporation closed at $25.97 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.18% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.76%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.82%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.9%.

Coming into today, shares of the company had lost 14.26% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 3.13%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.41%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from VRS as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be March 14, 2019. In that report, analysts expect VRS to post earnings of $1.71 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 64.42%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $712.83 million, up 11.55% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.53 per share and revenue of $2.70 billion. These totals would mark changes of +570.67% and +9.7%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for VRS should also be noted by investors. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 14.24% higher. VRS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking at its valuation, VRS is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 7.44. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 10.2, which means VRS is trading at a discount to the group.

The Paper and Related Products industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 174, which puts it in the bottom 32% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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