Dollar General (DG) closed at $96.79 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.23% move from the prior day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.51%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.66%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.71%.
The the stock of discount retailer has risen by 14.97% in the past month, leading the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 6.97% and the S&P 500's loss of 8.86%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Dollar General in its upcoming release. On that day, Dollar General is projected to report earnings of $1.46 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 11.52%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $10.25 billion, indicating a 3.43% upward movement from the same quarter last year.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $5.55 per share and a revenue of $42.1 billion, signifying shifts of -6.25% and +3.66%, respectively, from the last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Dollar General. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.4% higher. Right now, Dollar General possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Dollar General is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 17.22. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 21.15, so one might conclude that Dollar General is trading at a discount comparatively.
We can also see that DG currently has a PEG ratio of 2.69. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Discount Stores industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.64 as of yesterday's close.
The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 164, positioning it in the bottom 34% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Dollar General Corporation (DG): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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