Procter & Gamble (PG) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Procter & Gamble (PG) closed at $91.51 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.34% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.63%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.68%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.64%.
Coming into today, shares of the world's largest consumer products maker had gained 10.68% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector gained 1.08%, while the S&P 500 lost 4.95%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from PG as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 22, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.21, up 1.68% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $17.20 billion, down 1.11% from the prior-year quarter.
PG's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.41 per share and revenue of $66.88 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +4.5% and +0.08%, respectively.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for PG. 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.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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 has moved 0.25% lower. PG is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that PG has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.69 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.51, which means PG is trading at a premium to the group.
Also, we should mention that PG has a PEG ratio of 2.99. 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 Soap and Cleaning Materials industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 3.22 as of yesterday's close.
The Soap and Cleaning Materials industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 241, putting it in the bottom 6% 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.
To follow PG in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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