In the latest trading session, Costco (COST) closed at $297.39, marking a -0.81% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500’s 0.86% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.96%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.13%.
Coming into today, shares of the warehouse club operator had gained 0.91% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 2.75%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.66%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from COST as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be December 12, 2019. On that day, COST is projected to report earnings of $1.71 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 6.21%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $37.43 billion, up 6.72% from the prior-year quarter.
COST’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.56 per share and revenue of $162.96 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +4.52% and +6.72%, respectively.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for COST. 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. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.2% higher. COST currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that COST has a Forward P/E ratio of 35.02 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 23.52, so we one might conclude that COST is trading at a premium comparatively.
Investors should also note that COST has a PEG ratio of 4.12 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company’s expected earnings growth rate. The Retail – Discount Stores industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.37 as of yesterday’s close.
The Retail – Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 25, putting it in the top 10% 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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