ViacomCBS (VIAC) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, ViacomCBS (VIAC) closed at $16.40, marking a +1.61% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 9.28% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 9.36%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 9.34%.

Heading into today, shares of the company had lost 53.86% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Discretionary sector's loss of 31.11% and the S&P 500's loss of 26.56% in that time.

VIAC will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.31, down 4.38% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $7.09 billion, up 70.07% from the year-ago period.

VIAC's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.89 per share and revenue of $29.14 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +17.56% and +60.65%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for VIAC. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of 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. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 11.53% lower. VIAC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note VIAC's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 2.74. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 10.88, so we one might conclude that VIAC is trading at a discount comparatively.

Investors should also note that VIAC has a PEG ratio of 0.29 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. VIAC's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.55 as of yesterday's close.

The Film and Television Production and Distribution industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 245, putting it in the bottom 4% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.