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Factors Setting the Tone for Macy's (M) Earnings in Q2
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Macy's, Inc. (M - Free Report) is scheduled to report second-quarter fiscal 2019 results on Aug 14, before the opening bell. In the last reported quarter, this department store retailer delivered a positive earnings surprise of 41.9%. The company’s bottom line has also outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by average of 39.6% in the trailing four quarters.
How Are Estimates Faring?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the to-be-reported quarter is pegged at 46 cents, which indicates a decline of 22% from the year-ago quarter. We note that the Zacks Consensus Estimate has remained stable in the past 30 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues currently stands at $5,629 million, suggesting a marginal improvement of 1% from the year-ago quarter. In the last reported quarter, the company’s net sales and earnings per share have declined 0.7% and 8.3%, respectively.
Factors at Play
In spite of taking a slew of measures, Macy’s continues to struggle with soft top-line performance. The company is making every effort to adjust to rapidly changing retail landscape that has turned highly competitive with the increasing dominance of e-commerce players. This has compelled the company to strengthen digital ecosystem, and bolster shipping and delivery capabilities.
While these endeavors support sales, they entail high costs. Additionally, any deleverage in SG&A rate, and increased marketing and other store-related expenses are concerns. Certainly, margins will remain one of the key areas to watch out.
Management had earlier guided gross margin to be down moderately in the first half. We note that gross margin shrunk 80 basis points to 38.2% during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 owing to higher delivery expense.
Moreover, Macy’s at its last earnings conference call highlighted that any escalation in trade war between the United States and China is likely to impact business. It had also informed that earlier rounds of tariff imposition did not have a material impact on the company. Nonetheless, the company is trying all means to mitigate the impact of same.
Further, it is focusing on price optimization, inventory management, merchandise planning and private label offering, and developing omni-channel capabilities and online order fulfillment centers.
The company had highlighted that it will embark on Backstage, Vendor Direct, Store Pickup, Loyalty Program, Growth150 stores, ‘mobile first’ strategy and Destination Businesses to drive growth. The company has also undertaken restructuring actions.
Our proven model shows that Macy’s is likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter. A stock needs to have both — a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) and a positive Earnings ESP — for this to happen. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Macy’s has a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of +0.73%, which makes surprise prediction difficult.
Other Stocks With Favorable Combination
Here are some other companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:
Ross Stores (ROST - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.79% and a Zacks Rank #3.
Costco (COST - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.79% and a Zacks Rank #3.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.
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Factors Setting the Tone for Macy's (M) Earnings in Q2
Macy's, Inc. (M - Free Report) is scheduled to report second-quarter fiscal 2019 results on Aug 14, before the opening bell. In the last reported quarter, this department store retailer delivered a positive earnings surprise of 41.9%. The company’s bottom line has also outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by average of 39.6% in the trailing four quarters.
How Are Estimates Faring?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the to-be-reported quarter is pegged at 46 cents, which indicates a decline of 22% from the year-ago quarter. We note that the Zacks Consensus Estimate has remained stable in the past 30 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues currently stands at $5,629 million, suggesting a marginal improvement of 1% from the year-ago quarter. In the last reported quarter, the company’s net sales and earnings per share have declined 0.7% and 8.3%, respectively.
Factors at Play
In spite of taking a slew of measures, Macy’s continues to struggle with soft top-line performance. The company is making every effort to adjust to rapidly changing retail landscape that has turned highly competitive with the increasing dominance of e-commerce players. This has compelled the company to strengthen digital ecosystem, and bolster shipping and delivery capabilities.
While these endeavors support sales, they entail high costs. Additionally, any deleverage in SG&A rate, and increased marketing and other store-related expenses are concerns. Certainly, margins will remain one of the key areas to watch out.
Management had earlier guided gross margin to be down moderately in the first half. We note that gross margin shrunk 80 basis points to 38.2% during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 owing to higher delivery expense.
Moreover, Macy’s at its last earnings conference call highlighted that any escalation in trade war between the United States and China is likely to impact business. It had also informed that earlier rounds of tariff imposition did not have a material impact on the company. Nonetheless, the company is trying all means to mitigate the impact of same.
Further, it is focusing on price optimization, inventory management, merchandise planning and private label offering, and developing omni-channel capabilities and online order fulfillment centers.
The company had highlighted that it will embark on Backstage, Vendor Direct, Store Pickup, Loyalty Program, Growth150 stores, ‘mobile first’ strategy and Destination Businesses to drive growth. The company has also undertaken restructuring actions.
Macy's, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Macy's, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Macy's, Inc. Quote
What the Zacks Model Unveils
Our proven model shows that Macy’s is likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter. A stock needs to have both — a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) and a positive Earnings ESP — for this to happen. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Macy’s has a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of +0.73%, which makes surprise prediction difficult.
Other Stocks With Favorable Combination
Here are some other companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:
Target (TGT - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.04% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Ross Stores (ROST - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.79% and a Zacks Rank #3.
Costco (COST - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.79% and a Zacks Rank #3.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.
See their latest picks free >>