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Macy's (M) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Macy's (M - Free Report) closed at $23.32, marking a +1.04% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.3%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.77%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 5.51%.

Heading into today, shares of the department store operator had gained 11.77% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 11.37% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.41% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Macy's as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Macy's is projected to report earnings of $1.60 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 34.69%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $8.2 billion, down 5.32% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.16 per share and revenue of $24.39 billion. These totals would mark changes of -21.66% and -0.27%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Macy's. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.92% lower. Macy's is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Macy's currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.55. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 9.07, so we one might conclude that Macy's is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that M has a PEG ratio of 0.46. 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. Retail - Regional Department Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.87 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Regional Department Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 94, putting it in the top 38% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.


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