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Costco (COST) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
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Costco (COST - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $208.72, moving +0.47% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.07%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.21%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.13%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the warehouse club operator had lost 1.37% over the past month. This has lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 2.42% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.36% in that time.
COST will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be March 7, 2019. In that report, analysts expect COST to post earnings of $1.64 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 15.49%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $35.65 billion, up 8.05% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.65 per share and revenue of $152.81 billion, which would represent changes of +12.01% and +7.94%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for COST should also be noted by investors. 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. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.08% higher within the past month. COST currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, COST currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.14. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.75, which means COST is trading at a premium to the group.
Meanwhile, COST's PEG ratio is currently 2.72. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Retail - Discount Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.46 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 91, putting it in the top 36% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.
To follow COST in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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Costco (COST) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
Costco (COST - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $208.72, moving +0.47% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.07%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.21%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.13%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the warehouse club operator had lost 1.37% over the past month. This has lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 2.42% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.36% in that time.
COST will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be March 7, 2019. In that report, analysts expect COST to post earnings of $1.64 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 15.49%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $35.65 billion, up 8.05% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.65 per share and revenue of $152.81 billion, which would represent changes of +12.01% and +7.94%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for COST should also be noted by investors. 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. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.08% higher within the past month. COST currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, COST currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.14. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.75, which means COST is trading at a premium to the group.
Meanwhile, COST's PEG ratio is currently 2.72. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Retail - Discount Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.46 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 91, putting it in the top 36% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.
To follow COST in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.