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 $64.89 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.89% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.58%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.22%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.46%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the wholesale membership warehouse operator had gained 5.74% over the past month. This has outpaced the Consumer Discretionary sector's loss of 4.69% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.54% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from BJ's Wholesale Club as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.74, up 5.71% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.41 billion, up 11.65% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for BJ's Wholesale Club. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.3% higher. BJ's Wholesale Club is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note BJ's Wholesale Club's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 18.93. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 10.97, so we one might conclude that BJ's Wholesale Club is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that BJ has a PEG ratio of 1.89. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Consumer Services - Miscellaneous stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.18 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Consumer Services - Miscellaneous industry is part of the Consumer Discretionary sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 236, which puts it in the bottom 8% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many 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