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Albertsons Companies, Inc. (ACI) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Albertsons Companies, Inc. (ACI - Free Report) closed at $35.58 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.88% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.14%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.82%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.12%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the company had gained 22.51% over the past month. This has outpaced the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 7.4% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.01% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Albertsons Companies, Inc. as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Albertsons Companies, Inc. to post earnings of $0.63 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 5%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $16.47 billion, up 4.39% from the prior-year quarter.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Albertsons Companies, Inc.These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Albertsons Companies, Inc. is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note Albertsons Companies, Inc.'s current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 12.55. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.26, so we one might conclude that Albertsons Companies, Inc. is trading at a discount comparatively.

Meanwhile, ACI's PEG ratio is currently 1.57. 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. ACI's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.05 as of yesterday's close.

The Consumer Products - Staples industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 223, putting 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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