Macy’s Inc.’s (M) strong fundamentals and history of positive earnings surprises facilitated it to record a new 52-week high for the 3rd time in a months’ span.
Shares of this department store retailer reached a new 52-week high of $43.88 on Thursday, Apr 4, and eventually closed at $43.56, rising roughly 14.2% year to date. The company currently trades at a forward P/E of 11.16x, a 2.4% discount to the peer group average of 11.44x.
Macy’s has been taking prudent steps to augment sales, profitability and cash flows. These include integration of operations, consolidation of divisions and customer-centric localization initiatives. To help drive traffic, Macy’s continues to focus on price optimization, inventory management and merchandise planning to generate long-term profitability, which is well evident from its record of beating the quarterly earnings expectations.
Macy’s posted stronger-than-anticipated fourth-quarter fiscal 2012 results on the back of My Macy's localization initiatives, omnichannel integration, robust online sales and effective cost management. It declared impressive results on Feb 26, 2013, wherein earnings of $2.05 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.98 by 3.5%.
If we look at the company’s earnings surprise history, this Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock has outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 11 straight quarters by an average of 38.5%.
Macy’s total sales grew 7.2% to $9,350 million in the quarter from $8,724 million in the year-ago period, and came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $9,327 million. Comparable-store sales for the quarter climbed 3.9%.
Buoyed by healthy results, management now projects fiscal 2013 earnings between $3.90 and $3.95.
Other Stocks to Consider
Alongside Macy’s, other stocks worth considering in the non-food retail wholesale sector are Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. (BGFV), Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD)and Cabela's Incorporated (CAB) all holding a favorable Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
BIG 5 SPORTING (BGFV): Free Stock Analysis Report
CABELAS INC (CAB): Free Stock Analysis Report
MACYS INC (M): Free Stock Analysis Report
SEARS HLDG CP (SHLD): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Get all Zacks Research Reports and be alerted to fast-breaking buy and sell opportunities every trading day.
Be the first to comment