Dollar General (DG) Stock Moves -0.27%: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Dollar General (DG) closed at $188.92, marking a -0.27% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.34%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.73%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the discount retailer had lost 0.17% over the past month. This has lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 11% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.71% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from DG as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect DG to post earnings of $2.30 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 32.18%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $8.14 billion, up 16.53% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.84 per share and revenue of $31.91 billion, which would represent changes of +31.35% and +14.97%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for DG. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. 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, 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 remained stagnant within the past month. DG currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

In terms of valuation, DG is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 21.42. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 24.55.

Meanwhile, DG's PEG ratio is currently 1.74. 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. DG's industry had an average PEG ratio of 4.06 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Discount Stores industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 37, which puts it in the top 15% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.