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Kraft Heinz (KHC) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Kraft Heinz (KHC - Free Report) closed at $38.60, marking a +1.1% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.17% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.67%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of Oscar Mayer meats, Jell-O pudding and Velveeta cheese had lost 3.61% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 0.24% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.25% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Kraft Heinz as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Kraft Heinz is projected to report earnings of $0.60 per share, which would represent no growth from the year-ago period. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.42 billion, up 6.26% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.71 per share and revenue of $27.12 billion, which would represent changes of -2.52% and +2.38%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Kraft Heinz. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.07% lower. Kraft Heinz is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Kraft Heinz currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.07. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.25.

Also, we should mention that KHC has a PEG ratio of 3.46. 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. The Food - Miscellaneous was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.7 at yesterday's closing price.

The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 154, putting it in the bottom 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

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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