Kraft Heinz (KHC) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Kraft Heinz (KHC) closed at $35.50, marking a +1.37% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.23%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.84%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.24%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of Oscar Mayer meats, Jell-O pudding and Velveeta cheese had lost 8.3% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 1.32% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.67% in that time.

Kraft Heinz will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.75, up 7.14% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $6.83 billion, up 4.14% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.87 per share and revenue of $27.16 billion, which would represent changes of +3.24% and +2.57%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Kraft Heinz should also be noted by investors. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.35% lower within the past month. Kraft Heinz is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Kraft Heinz currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.2. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.06, which means Kraft Heinz is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that KHC has a PEG ratio of 2.73 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. The Food - Miscellaneous industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.73 as of yesterday's close.

The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 65, which puts it in the top 26% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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