Coca-Cola (KO) Beats Stock Market Upswing: What Investors Need to Know

The most recent trading session ended with Coca-Cola (KO) standing at $70.12, reflecting a +1.39% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.64%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.85%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.31%.The world's largest beverage maker's shares have seen an increase of 0.42% over the last month, not keeping up with the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 3.65% and outstripping the S&P 500's loss of 7.69%.Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Coca-Cola in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.72, reflecting no change from the same quarter last year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $11.15 billion, indicating a 1.28% downward movement from the same quarter last year.For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $2.96 per share and a revenue of $47.98 billion, demonstrating changes of +2.78% and +1.94%, respectively, from the preceding year.It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Coca-Cola. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. 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 varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. As of now, Coca-Cola holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).Looking at valuation, Coca-Cola is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.39. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.7, which means Coca-Cola is trading at a premium to the group.Meanwhile, KO's PEG ratio is currently 3.74. 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 Beverages - Soft drinks industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.59 as of yesterday's close.The Beverages - Soft drinks industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 81, positioning it in the top 33% of all 250+ industries.The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"Our team of experts has just released the 5 stocks with the greatest probability of gaining +100% or more in the coming months. Of those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian highlights the one stock set to climb highest.This top pick is among the most innovative financial firms. With a fast-growing customer base (already 50+ million) and a diverse set of cutting edge solutions, this stock is poised for big gains. Of course, all our elite picks aren’t winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months.Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CocaCola Company (The) (KO): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks