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

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In the latest trading session, Coca-Cola (KO - Free Report) closed at $60.31, marking a -0.72% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.24%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.03%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 5.73%.

Heading into today, shares of the world's largest beverage maker had lost 4.96% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 5.29% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 3.56% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Coca-Cola as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.71, up 1.43% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $11.69 billion, up 3.26% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.61 per share and revenue of $45.02 billion, which would represent changes of +5.24% and +4.7%, respectively, from the prior 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 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.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.1% higher. Coca-Cola is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Coca-Cola is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 23.31. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 23.04.

It is also worth noting that KO currently has a PEG ratio of 3.44. 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. KO's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.48 as of yesterday's close.

The Beverages - Soft drinks industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 26, which puts it in the top 11% 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.

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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