SunOpta (STKL) closed at $5.61 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.71% move from the prior day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.37%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.62%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.19%.

The the stock of natural and organic food company has risen by 15.07% in the past month, leading the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 6.39% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.56%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of SunOpta in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.01, reflecting a 50% decrease from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $165.1 million, down 25.39% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for SunOpta. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Currently, SunOpta is carrying a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that SunOpta has a Forward P/E ratio of 41.85 right now. This denotes a premium relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 16.96.



The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 178, positioning it in the bottom 30% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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