Macy's (M) closed the most recent trading day at $21.57, moving +1.79% from the previous trading session. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.26% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.6%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.25%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the department store operator had lost 8.39% lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 3.96% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.57%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Macy's in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.51, signifying a 16.11% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $7.52 billion, indicating a 3.14% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
M's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.2 per share and revenue of $21.65 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -16.67% and -2.89%, respectively.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Macy's. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.77% higher within the past month. Right now, Macy's possesses a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Macy's has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.62 right now. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 13.83 for its industry.
The Retail - Regional Department Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 1, this industry ranks in the top 1% of all industries, numbering over 250.
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.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
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Macy's, Inc. (M): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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