Albertsons Companies, Inc. (ACI) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

Albertsons Companies, Inc. (ACI) closed at $29.36 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.79% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 3.06%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.68%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.09%.

Heading into today, shares of the company had lost 3.7% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 1.3% and outpacing the S&P 500's loss of 4.31% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Albertsons Companies, Inc. as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect Albertsons Companies, Inc. to post earnings of $0.89 per share. This would mark no growth from the year-ago period. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $22.6 billion, up 6.25% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.83 per share and revenue of $74.28 billion. These totals would mark changes of -7.82% and +3.32%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Albertsons Companies, Inc. should also be noted by investors. 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. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Albertsons Companies, Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Albertsons Companies, Inc. is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 10.29. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.77, which means Albertsons Companies, Inc. is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, ACI's PEG ratio is currently 1.68. 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. Consumer Products - Staples stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.73 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Consumer Products - Staples industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 209, putting it in the bottom 18% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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 ACI in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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