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Coca-Cola (KO) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Coca-Cola (KO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $53.08, moving +0.61% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.08% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.38%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.29%.

Heading into today, shares of the world's largest beverage maker had lost 0.86% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 2.91% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.8% in that time.

KO will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, KO is projected to report earnings of $0.41 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 6.82%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $8.69 billion, down 4.21% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.89 per share and revenue of $33.08 billion, which would represent changes of -10.43% and -9.59%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for KO. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-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. 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.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.07% higher. KO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, KO currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.99. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 23.88.

Meanwhile, KO's PEG ratio is currently 6.66. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Beverages - Soft drinks industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 4.15 as of yesterday's close.

The Beverages - Soft drinks industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 222, which puts it in the bottom 13% 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.

To follow KO in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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