PepsiCo (PEP) closed almost flat on Wednesday at $143.74 after six straight sessions of losses.
The company has lost nearly 4.45% in the last six trading sessions. PEP is down about 2% over the past one month. The stock closed 2.29% lower at $143.68 on Tuesday.
Looking at Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating, PEP has a Hold rating with a score of 3.41 out of 5. The company received A+ for profitability prospect and A- for revisions, while it got a D+ in valuation and growth.
Seeking Alpha analysts are also cautious and have rated PEP as Hold.
Seeking Alpha analyst Alan Galecki rated PEP a Sell due to rising debt, weak free cash flow, and unsustainable dividend coverage.
“PEP’s recent growth stems from aggressive price hikes, masking persistent volume declines and deteriorating operating profits in core segments,” Galecki added.
Turning to the Wall Street community, seven out of 24 analysts gave PEP a Buy or higher rating, 15 recommended the stock as Hold and two rated PEP as Strong Sell.
Earlier this month, J.P. Morgan upgraded PepsiCo (PEP) to Overweight from Neutral amid expectations that an accelerated agenda of innovation and increased spending on marketing should position the beverage giant to deliver high-single digit shareholder return next year.
PepsiCo’s shares have slipped nearly 6% so far this year, underperforming the broader benchmark index, which gained nearly 17.5% gain during the same period.