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Target (TGT) Stock Dips While Market Gains: Key Facts

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Target (TGT - Free Report) closed at $105.82 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.5% move from the prior day. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.07%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.7%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.18%.

The retailer's stock has climbed by 11.1% in the past month, exceeding the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 5.27% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.71%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Target in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect Target to post earnings of $2.08 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 19.07%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $24.88 billion, indicating a 2.26% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.55 per share and revenue of $104.65 billion, which would represent changes of -14.79% and -1.79%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Target. 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 business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.57% increase. Target presently features a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Looking at its valuation, Target is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 14.23. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 21.84, so one might conclude that Target is trading at a discount comparatively.

We can also see that TGT currently has a PEG ratio of 3.07. 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. The Retail - Discount Stores industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.67 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 174, which puts it in the bottom 30% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming 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 use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.


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