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TravelCenters of America (TA) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, TravelCenters of America closed at $84.23, marking a -0.18% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.3%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.98%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 7.48%.

Heading into today, shares of the truck-stop operator had gained 0.19% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 5.79% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.95% in that time.

TravelCenters of America will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, TravelCenters of America is projected to report earnings of $0.66 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 35.92%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.28 billion, down 0.76% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.67 per share and revenue of $9.54 billion, which would represent changes of -57.08% and -12.07%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for TravelCenters of America. 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. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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. TravelCenters of America is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that TravelCenters of America has a Forward P/E ratio of 18.07 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18, which means TravelCenters of America is trading at a premium to the group.

The Retail - Convenience Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 19, putting it in the top 8% 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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