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Veritiv (VRTV) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Veritiv closed at $44.21, marking a +0.41% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.11% gain on the day.

Coming into today, shares of the distributor of packaging and printing supplies had gained 7.66% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector gained 3.94%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.72%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from VRTV as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, VRTV is projected to report earnings of $0.02 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 200%.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for VRTV should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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.

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. VRTV is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, VRTV is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 15.98. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 15.3.

The Paper and Related Products industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 72, putting it in the top 29% 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.

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

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