Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Why Dollar General (DG) Outpaced the Stock Market Today

Read MoreHide Full Article

The most recent trading session ended with Dollar General (DG - Free Report) standing at $77.09, reflecting a +1.59% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.39% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.13%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.6%.

The discount retailer's stock has dropped by 5.86% in the past month, falling short of the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 1.99% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.06%.

The upcoming earnings release of Dollar General will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on December 5, 2024. On that day, Dollar General is projected to report earnings of $0.98 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 22.22%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $10.13 billion, up 4.54% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $5.86 per share and a revenue of $40.51 billion, demonstrating changes of -22.38% and +4.71%, respectively, from the preceding year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Dollar General. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.05% upward. Dollar General is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Looking at valuation, Dollar General is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 12.95. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 19.78.

We can also see that DG currently has a PEG ratio of 2.22. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. DG's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.32 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 148, putting it in the bottom 42% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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 follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Dollar General Corporation (DG) - free report >>

Published in