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

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Coca-Cola (KO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $60.56, moving -0.74% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.69%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.78%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.28%.

Coming into today, shares of the world's largest beverage maker had gained 2.88% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector lost 1.47%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.29%.

Coca-Cola will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 10, 2022. In that report, analysts expect Coca-Cola to post earnings of $0.40 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 14.89%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $8.94 billion, up 3.77% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Coca-Cola. 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.

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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.57% lower. Coca-Cola currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Coca-Cola is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 25.37. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 22.44, so we one might conclude that Coca-Cola is trading at a premium comparatively.

We can also see that KO currently has a PEG ratio of 3.16. 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. The Beverages - Soft drinks was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.14 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 172, putting it in the bottom 33% 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.

To follow KO in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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