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Mosaic (MOS) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Mosaic (MOS - Free Report) closed at $48.35, marking a +0.71% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.19%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.76%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.29%.

Heading into today, shares of the fertilizer maker had gained 6.36% over the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's gain of 8.73% and outpacing the S&P 500's gain of 4.06% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Mosaic as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Mosaic is projected to report earnings of $2.08 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 6.67%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.31 billion, up 12.13% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Mosaic should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 9.23% lower within the past month. Mosaic is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

Investors should also note Mosaic's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 5.36. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 6.3.

Also, we should mention that MOS has a PEG ratio of 0.77. 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. Fertilizers stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.85 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 239, which puts it in the bottom 6% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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