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Williams-Sonoma (WSM) Increases Despite Market Slip: Here's What You Need to Know

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The most recent trading session ended with Williams-Sonoma (WSM - Free Report) standing at $139.90, reflecting a +0.1% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.05%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.02%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.18%.

Coming into today, shares of the seller of cookware and home furnishings had lost 8.91% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 1.71%, while the S&P 500 gained 2.76%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Williams-Sonoma in its upcoming earnings disclosure. In that report, analysts expect Williams-Sonoma to post earnings of $1.76 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 3.83%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.78 billion, down 3.86% from the year-ago period.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $7.99 per share and a revenue of $7.54 billion, indicating changes of +7.54% and -2.7%, respectively, from the former year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Williams-Sonoma should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.34% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Williams-Sonoma is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

From a valuation perspective, Williams-Sonoma is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 17.5. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 18.6, which means Williams-Sonoma is trading at a discount to the group.

It is also worth noting that WSM currently has a PEG ratio of 2.75. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. The Retail - Home Furnishings industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.13 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Retail - Home Furnishings industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 204, putting it in the bottom 20% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in 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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