In the latest market close, Macy's (M) reached $14.96, with a -0.07% movement compared to the previous day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.5%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.08%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.21%.

The department store operator's shares have seen a decrease of 2.54% over the last month, not keeping up with the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 1.04% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.47%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Macy's in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on March 6, 2025. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $1.55, showcasing a 36.73% downward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $7.79 billion, down 4.03% from the year-ago period.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Macy's. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.08% decrease. Macy's currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Macy's is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 6.14. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 10.01.

The Retail - Regional Department Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 185, this industry ranks in the bottom 27% of all industries, numbering over 250.

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.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.

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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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