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Target (TGT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Target (TGT - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $67.85, moving -0.53% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.22%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.59%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.16%.

Heading into today, shares of the retailer had gained 4.44% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 1.88% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.49% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from TGT as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be March 5, 2019. On that day, TGT is projected to report earnings of $1.52 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 10.95%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $23.15 billion, up 1.67% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.39 per share and revenue of $75.59 billion, which would represent changes of +14.44% and +5.16%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for TGT. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.07% higher within the past month. TGT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, TGT is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 12.65. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.37.

Investors should also note that TGT has a PEG ratio of 2.12 right now. 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 - Discount Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.53 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 171, which puts it in the bottom 34% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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