Macy's (M) ended the recent trading session at $11.37, demonstrating a -0.7% swing from the preceding day's closing price. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.81%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.56%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.06%.

The department store operator's stock has dropped by 16.06% in the past month, falling short of the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 5.27% and the S&P 500's loss of 6.14%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Macy's in its upcoming release. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.14, indicating a 48.15% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $4.47 billion, indicating a 7.86% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $2.12 per share and a revenue of $21.27 billion, signifying shifts of -19.7% and -4.6%, respectively, from the last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Macy's. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.14% lower. At present, Macy's boasts a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

In the context of valuation, Macy's is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 5.4. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 11.31 for its industry.

The Retail - Regional Department Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 232, which puts it in the bottom 7% of all 250+ industries.

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.

To follow M in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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Macy's, Inc. (M) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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