Coca-Cola (KO) closed at $63.57 in the latest trading session, marking a -1% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500’s daily loss of 1.2%. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.86%.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the world’s largest beverage maker had gained 2.77% over the past month. This has outpaced the Consumer Staples sector’s gain of 1.13% and the S&P 500’s loss of 4.77% 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 $0.45, unchanged from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $9.95 billion, up 5.1% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.48 per share and revenue of $42.8 billion. These totals would mark changes of +6.9% and +10.72%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Coca-Cola should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company’s business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 remained stagnant within the past month. Coca-Cola is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, Coca-Cola currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 25.88. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 25.88, so we one might conclude that Coca-Cola is trading at a no noticeable deviation comparatively.
We can also see that KO currently has a PEG ratio of 4.16. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company’s expected earnings growth rate into account. The Beverages – Soft drinks was holding an average PEG ratio of 3.22 at yesterday’s closing price.
The Beverages – Soft drinks industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 47, putting it in the top 19% 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.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2023
In addition to the investment ideas discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 top picks for the entirety of 2023? From inception in 2012 through November, the
Zacks Top 10 Stocks
portfolio has tripled the market, gaining an impressive +884.5% versus the S&P 500’s +287.4%.
Now our Director of Research is combing through 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank to handpick the best 10 tickers to buy and hold. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these stocks when they’re released on January 3.
Be First to New Top 10 Stocks >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.
Click to get this free report
