Back to top

Image: Bigstock

BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ - Free Report) closed at $41.63 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.82% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.24% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.61%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.35%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the wholesale membership warehouse operator had gained 10.79% over the past month. This has outpaced the Consumer Discretionary sector's gain of 8.08% and the S&P 500's gain of 7.09% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from BJ as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect BJ to post earnings of $0.53 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 35.9%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.64 billion, up 8.93% from the year-ago period.

BJ's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.21 per share and revenue of $14.37 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +51.37% and +8.97%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for BJ should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. BJ is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note BJ's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 18.66. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 16.48, so we one might conclude that BJ is trading at a premium comparatively.

Meanwhile, BJ's PEG ratio is currently 1.38. 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 Consumer Services - Miscellaneous was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.38 at yesterday's closing price.

The Consumer Services - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 166, which puts it in the bottom 35% 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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (BJ) - free report >>

Published in