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Dollar General (DG) Stock Drops Despite Market Gains: Important Facts to Note

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In the latest trading session, Dollar General (DG - Free Report) closed at $123.20, marking a -1.24% move from the previous day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.89%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.74%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.29%.

Coming into today, shares of the discount retailer had gained 10.93% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 1.33%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.63%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Dollar General in its forthcoming earnings report. In that report, analysts expect Dollar General to post earnings of $2 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 7.53%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $11.17 billion, indicating a 4.17% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.37 per share and revenue of $44.4 billion. These totals would mark changes of +7.59% and +3.92%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Dollar General. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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 last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.02% decrease. Right now, Dollar General possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Dollar General has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.94 right now. This denotes a discount relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 30.08.

One should further note that DG currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.9. 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 2.65 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 21, finds itself in the top 9% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.

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