Macy's (M) closed at $10.80 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.28% move from the prior day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.67%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.07%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.5%.

The the stock of department store operator has fallen by 20.25% in the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 4.21% and the S&P 500's loss of 6.57%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Macy's in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.14, marking a 48.15% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.47 billion, down 7.86% from the year-ago period.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $2.12 per share and a revenue of $21.27 billion, indicating changes of -19.7% and -4.6%, respectively, from the former year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Macy's. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable 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 witnessed an unchanged state. Macy's currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

In the context of valuation, Macy's is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 5.1. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.48, 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. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 228, positioning it in the bottom 9% of all 250+ industries.

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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on 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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