Coca-Cola (KO) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

KO

Coca-Cola (KO - Free Report) closed at $56.98 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.06% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.97% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.88%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.24%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the world's largest beverage maker had lost 9.28% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 8.57% and was narrower than the S&P 500's loss of 9.93% in that time.

Coca-Cola will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Coca-Cola to post earnings of $0.64 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 1.54%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $10.62 billion, up 5.79% from the prior-year quarter.

KO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.46 per share and revenue of $42.42 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +6.03% and +9.75%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Coca-Cola. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-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.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Coca-Cola is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Looking at its valuation, Coca-Cola is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 22.88. This valuation marks a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 22.88.

Also, we should mention that KO has a PEG ratio of 3.57. 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. The Beverages - Soft drinks was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.04 at yesterday's closing price.

The Beverages - Soft drinks industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 72, putting it in the top 29% 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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