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Kraft Heinz (KHC) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Kraft Heinz (KHC - Free Report) closed at $51.42, marking a +0.59% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.09%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.13%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.51%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of Oscar Mayer meats, Jell-O pudding and Velveeta cheese had lost 9.04% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 0.43% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.92% in that time.

KHC will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 15, 2019. On that day, KHC is projected to report earnings of $0.97 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 7.78%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.99 billion, up 1.65% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.64 per share and revenue of $26.35 billion. These totals would mark changes of +2.54% and +0.44%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for KHC should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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, 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.11% lower within the past month. KHC is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, KHC is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.03. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.82, so we one might conclude that KHC is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that KHC has a PEG ratio of 2.28. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. KHC's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.21 as of yesterday's close.

The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 176, putting it in the bottom 32% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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