VALE S.A. (VALE) closed at $9.78 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.82% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.78%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.99%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 2.61%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the company had gained 3.52% over the past month. This has outpaced the Basic Materials sector's loss of 0.13% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.48% in that time.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of VALE S.A. in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.40, up 2.56% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $8.81 billion, up 4.09% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.85 per share and revenue of $39.71 billion, which would represent changes of +1.65% and +4.34%, respectively, from the prior year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for VALE S.A. 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.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.32% decrease. VALE S.A. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, VALE S.A. currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.25. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 5.25, which means VALE S.A. is trading at no noticeable deviation to the group.

We can also see that VALE currently has a PEG ratio of 0.3. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Mining - Iron industry was having an average PEG ratio of 0.3.

The Mining - Iron industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 85, which puts it in the top 34% 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.

To follow VALE in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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