Graphic Packaging (GPK) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Graphic Packaging (GPK) closed at $24.16, marking a +1.09% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.99%.

Heading into today, shares of the packaging company had lost 4.78% over the past month, lagging the Industrial Products sector's loss of 3.19% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.42% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Graphic Packaging as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Graphic Packaging to post earnings of $0.77 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 28.33%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.51 billion, up 6.61% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.03 per share and revenue of $10 billion, which would represent changes of +30.04% and +5.97%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Graphic Packaging. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 9.93% higher within the past month. Graphic Packaging currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Investors should also note Graphic Packaging's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 7.9. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.52, which means Graphic Packaging is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that GPK has a PEG ratio of 0.32 right now. 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. GPK's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.06 as of yesterday's close.

The Containers - Paper and Packaging industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 57, putting it in the top 23% 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.

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

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