Kroger (KR) ended the recent trading session at $69.13, demonstrating a +2.98% change from the preceding day's closing price. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.16% loss on the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.44%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.76%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the supermarket chain had lost 0.42% was narrower than the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 4.08% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 1.14%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Kroger in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect Kroger to post earnings of $1.04 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6.12%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $34.31 billion, indicating a 2.02% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $4.79 per share and a revenue of $148.79 billion, indicating changes of +7.16% and +1.13%, respectively, from the former year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Kroger should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. 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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.13% higher. Kroger presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Kroger is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.03. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 16.94.
Investors should also note that KR has a PEG ratio of 1.95 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. KR's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.39 as of yesterday's close.
The Retail - Supermarkets industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 157, putting it in the bottom 37% 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.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
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The Kroger Co. (KR): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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