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Dollar General (DG) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Dollar General (DG - Free Report) closed at $228.39 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.02% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.29%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.78%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 4.94%.

Heading into today, shares of the discount retailer had lost 5.27% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 6.05% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.64% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Dollar General as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.24, up 26.07% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $10.32 billion, up 19.26% from the year-ago period.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Dollar General. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-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 shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.9% lower. Dollar General currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Investors should also note Dollar General's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 18.8. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 22.7.

It is also worth noting that DG currently has a PEG ratio of 1.68. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Retail - Discount Stores was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.01 at yesterday's closing price.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 186, which puts it in the bottom 27% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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