The most recent trading session ended with Macy's (M) standing at $14.53, reflecting a +1.82% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.67%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.38%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.98%.

The the stock of department store operator has fallen by 9.91% in the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 7.15% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.07%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Macy's in its upcoming release. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.55, indicating a 36.73% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $7.79 billion, indicating a 4.03% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Macy's. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.49% higher. Right now, Macy's possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Macy's's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 5.85. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 9.93, which means Macy's is trading at a discount to the group.

The Retail - Regional Department Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 227, which puts it in the bottom 10% 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.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

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