Macy's (M) Stock Dips While Market Gains: Key Facts

Macy's (M) closed at $20.30 in the latest trading session, marking a -2.54% move from the prior day. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.81%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.63%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.26%.

The department store operator's shares have seen an increase of 2.21% over the last month, surpassing the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 4.99% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.25%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Macy's in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.55, down 13.89% from the prior-year quarter. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $7.52 billion, indicating a 3.14% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $2.2 per share and a revenue of $21.65 billion, demonstrating changes of -16.67% and -2.89%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Macy's. 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 suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Macy's is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Macy's has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.3 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 13.48.

The Retail - Regional Department Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 15, this industry ranks in the top 7% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.