PepsiCo (PEP) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

PepsiCo (PEP) closed the most recent trading day at $136.74, moving +0.65% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.06% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.17%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.87%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the food and beverage company had gained 2.37% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 4.82% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.48% in that time.

PEP will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, PEP is projected to report earnings of $1.47 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 5.77%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $17.26 billion, up 0.41% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.34 per share and revenue of $68.31 billion, which would represent changes of -3.44% and +1.72%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for PEP. 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. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.64% higher within the past month. PEP is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that PEP has a Forward P/E ratio of 25.42 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 22.44, so we one might conclude that PEP is trading at a premium comparatively.

Investors should also note that PEP has a PEG ratio of 4.54 right now. 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 4.54 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 71, putting it in the top 28% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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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