This story originally appeared on Zacks

In the latest trading session, Verso (VRS) closed at $26.92, marking a -0.37% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500’s daily gain of 0.64%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.68%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.46%.

Coming into today, shares of the company had gained 28.48% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector gained 6.43%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.56%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Verso as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Verso is projected to report earnings of $0.94 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 151.09%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $336.57 million, up 7.19% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Verso. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of 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, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Verso is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Investors should also note Verso’s current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 193. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.23, so we one might conclude that Verso is trading at a premium comparatively.

The Paper and Related Products industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 101, which puts it in the top 40% 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.

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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Verso Corporation (VRS): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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