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PepsiCo (PEP) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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PepsiCo (PEP - Free Report) closed at $144.18 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.2% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.55%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.18%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.03%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the food and beverage company had lost 1.52% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 0.81% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.13% in that time.

PEP will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 11, 2021. On that day, PEP is projected to report earnings of $1.46 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 0.69%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $21.99 billion, up 6.56% from the year-ago period.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for PEP. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 has moved 0.61% higher. PEP is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note PEP's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 23.78. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.26.

Also, we should mention that PEP has a PEG ratio of 3.66. 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. The Beverages - Soft drinks industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 3.76 as of yesterday's close.

The Beverages - Soft drinks industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 185, putting it in the bottom 28% 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.

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


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