Dollar General (DG) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

Dollar General (DG) closed at $255.30 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.88% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.12% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.09%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.4%.

Coming into today, shares of the discount retailer had gained 0.08% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 9.21%, while the S&P 500 gained 8.25%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Dollar General as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be August 25, 2022. On that day, Dollar General is projected to report earnings of $2.91 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 8.18%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $9.35 billion, up 8.12% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.52 per share and revenue of $37.59 billion. These totals would mark changes of +13.27% and +9.84%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Dollar General. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.36% higher within the past month. Dollar General is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Dollar General has a Forward P/E ratio of 21.97 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.25, which means Dollar General is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that DG currently has a PEG ratio of 1.81. 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 1.91 at yesterday's closing price.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 156, putting it in the bottom 39% 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.

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