Target (TGT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

Target (TGT) closed the most recent trading day at $94.37, moving -0.94% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 2.28% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.24%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.72%.

Heading into today, shares of the retailer had lost 11.64% over the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 10% and outpacing the S&P 500's loss of 16.08% in that time.

TGT will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect TGT to post earnings of $1.53 per share. This would mark no growth from the year-ago period. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $19 billion, up 7.81% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.59 per share and revenue of $81.66 billion. These totals would mark changes of +3.13% and +4.54%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for TGT. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 3.61% lower. TGT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, TGT currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.46. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.67.

Investors should also note that TGT has a PEG ratio of 1.84 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Retail - Discount Stores stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.77 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 157, which puts it in the bottom 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

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