This story originally appeared on Zacks

In the latest trading session, Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG) closed at $153.51, marking a +0.88% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500’s 1.78% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1.61%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.95%.

Prior to today’s trading, shares of the lawn and garden products company had lost 7.66% over the past month. This has lagged the Basic Materials sector’s loss of 2.07% and the S&P 500’s loss of 2.63% in that time.

Scotts Miracle-Gro will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of -$0.60, down 253.85% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $605.72 million, down 19.09% from the year-ago period.

SMG’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.50 per share and revenue of $4.92 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -7.91% and -0.11%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Scotts Miracle-Gro. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, 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 remained stagnant. Scotts Miracle-Gro currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Scotts Miracle-Gro is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 17.89. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 17.71.

The Fertilizers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 5, putting it in the top 2% 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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