PepsiCo Shares Plummets 3.2 as $1.58 Billion Volume Surges 50% to 47th Rank Amid Elliott Pressure

PepsiCo (PEP) closed 3.20% lower on September 8, 2025, with a trading volume of $1.58 billion, a 49.95% increase from the prior day, ranking 47th in market activity. The decline came amid broader market gains, as the S&P 500 rose 0.21% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.45%. The stock’s performance contrasted with recent analyst expectations, which highlighted an upcoming October 9 earnings report projecting a 2.16% year-over-year decline in earnings per share to $2.26 and $23.79 billion in revenue.

Activist investor Elliott Investment Management has intensified pressure on PepsiCo, acquiring a $4 billion stake to push for strategic overhauls, including refocusing on core soda brands and streamlining operations. The move has sparked market speculation about potential restructuring, with some analysts suggesting a 50% upside potential for shares if the company aligns with Elliott’s proposals. Meanwhile, PepsiCo’s valuation metrics, such as a forward P/E of 18.23 and a PEG ratio of 3.7, indicate a premium to industry averages, raising questions about growth expectations.

Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) and a consensus EPS estimate revised upward by 0.12% in the past 30 days. However, the Beverages - Soft Drinks industry’s Zacks Industry Rank of 187, placing it in the bottom 25% of sectors, underscores broader challenges in the consumer staples space. The company’s full-year guidance of $8.03 EPS and $93.06 billion in revenue reflects modest growth compared to prior periods.

To build a proper back-test I need to pin down a few implementation details that aren’t explicit yet: 1. Universe • Should we consider all U.S. common stocks listed on NYSE + NASDAQ, or a different universe (e.g., only S&P 1500 constituents, only stocks above a certain market-cap, specific country, etc.)? 2. Ranking metric & timing • “Daily trading volume” – do you want the ranking based on that day’s volume measured at the close, then the portfolio entered at the next day’s open (classic next-bar execution), or entered on the same day’s close? • Equal-weighted across the 500 names, or value-weighted by volume or something else? 3. Holding period and turnover • You mentioned “hold them for 1 day.” Confirm that means: – Day t: pick top-500 (by vol) – Day t+1: exit those positions entirely, then refresh the list and re-enter a new top-500, and so on – i.e., daily full turnover. 4. Transaction costs / slippage • Should we include an explicit cost assumption (e.g., 2 bps per side) or evaluate the raw strategy first? Once I have those details, I can generate the data-retrieval plan and run the back-test.