Freshpet (FRPT) closed at $134.68 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.78% move from the prior day. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.27% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.26%.

The seller of refrigerated fresh pet food's stock has dropped by 1.55% in the past month, exceeding the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 2.6% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 2%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Freshpet in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on November 4, 2024. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.16, marking a 206.67% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $247.58 million, showing a 23.41% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $0.72 per share and a revenue of $967.33 million, representing changes of +202.86% and +26.14%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Freshpet. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Freshpet presently features a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

In terms of valuation, Freshpet is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 185.75. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 18.02 for its industry.

The Food - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 139, which puts it in the bottom 45% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered 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.