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Arcos Dorados (ARCO) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Arcos Dorados (ARCO - Free Report) closed at $10.02, marking a +0.6% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.15%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.63%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 7.23%.

Heading into today, shares of the restaurant owner had gained 12.04% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 4.03% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.08% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Arcos Dorados as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Arcos Dorados to post earnings of $0.14 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 100%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $976.97 million, up 10.53% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $0.72 per share and revenue of $4.08 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.35% and +13.36%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Arcos Dorados should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Arcos Dorados currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, Arcos Dorados is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 13.83. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 23.5.

Also, we should mention that ARCO has a PEG ratio of 1.46. 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 Retail - Restaurants industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.91 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 37, which puts it in the top 15% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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