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Coca-Cola (KO) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Coca-Cola (KO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $63.56, moving +0.16% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.09%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.03%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 2.51%.

Heading into today, shares of the world's largest beverage maker had gained 4.72% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 6.14% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.17% in that time.

Coca-Cola will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 24, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Coca-Cola to post earnings of $0.65 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 1.56%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $10.86 billion, up 3.49% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.60 per share and revenue of $44.84 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.84% and +4.28%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Coca-Cola should also be noted by investors. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

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 0.08% higher. Coca-Cola is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

In terms of valuation, Coca-Cola is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 24.41. This valuation marks a no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 24.41.

Investors should also note that KO has a PEG ratio of 3.67 right now. 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. Beverages - Soft drinks stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.96 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Beverages - Soft drinks industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 41, putting it in the top 17% 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.

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


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