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Sprouts Farmers (SFM) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Sprouts Farmers (SFM - Free Report) closed at $20.10 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.1% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.64% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.14%.

Heading into today, shares of the natural and organic food retailer had lost 2.9% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 1.3% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.19% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from SFM as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, SFM is projected to report earnings of $0.39 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 44.44%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.58 billion, up 15.82% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.27 per share and revenue of $6.45 billion. These totals would mark changes of +81.6% and +14.43%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for SFM. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. SFM is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, SFM is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.85. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.96, which means SFM is trading at a discount to the group.

Also, we should mention that SFM has a PEG ratio of 0.96. 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. Food - Natural Foods Products stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 5.41 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Food - Natural Foods Products industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 129, putting it in the top 50% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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