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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 $49.86, marking a +0.65% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.05% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.02%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 9.7%.

Heading into today, shares of the fertilizer maker had gained 16.21% over the past month, outpacing the Basic Materials sector's gain of 11.42% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.27% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Mosaic as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Mosaic to post earnings of $2.08 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6.67%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.31 billion, up 12.13% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Mosaic. 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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 9.23% lower within the past month. Mosaic is holding a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now.

In terms of valuation, Mosaic is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 5.53. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 6.59, so we one might conclude that Mosaic is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that MOS has a PEG ratio of 0.79. 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 Fertilizers was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.89 at yesterday's closing price.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 243, which puts it in the bottom 4% 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.

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


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