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Verso Corporation (VRS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Verso Corporation closed at $29.56, marking a +0.58% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.42% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1.15%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.29%.

Heading into today, shares of the company had lost 7.23% over the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's loss of 2.42% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.36% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from VRS as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be November 13, 2018. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.73, up 620.83% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $714.15 million, up 15% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.09 per share and revenue of $2.72 billion. These totals would mark changes of +512% and +10.66%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for VRS should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 53.73% higher within the past month. VRS is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking at its valuation, VRS is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 9.51. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.78.

The Paper and Related Products industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 77, which puts it in the top 30% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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