Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) closed at $49.98 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.3% move from the prior day. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.76% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 1.14%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.18%.

The Mexican food chain's shares have seen a decrease of 13.79% over the last month, not keeping up with the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 10.64% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.29%.

The upcoming earnings release of Chipotle Mexican Grill will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.29, reflecting a 7.41% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.97 billion, up 9.89% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $1.29 per share and a revenue of $12.62 billion, demonstrating changes of +15.18% and +11.52%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Chipotle Mexican Grill. 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 capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.05% lower. Chipotle Mexican Grill is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Chipotle Mexican Grill's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 38.78. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 24.25.

Meanwhile, CMG's PEG ratio is currently 1.92. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Retail - Restaurants stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.26 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 87, putting it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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