Mercer International (MERC) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Mercer International (MERC) closed the most recent trading day at $16.34, moving +1.24% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.41%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the pulp company had gained 5.7% over the past month. This has outpaced the Basic Materials sector's loss of 2.65% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.13% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Mercer International as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.05, up 0.96% from the prior-year quarter.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Mercer International should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Mercer International is holding a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Mercer International has a Forward P/E ratio of 3.98 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 7.69.

The Paper and Related Products industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 25, which puts it in the top 10% 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.

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


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