Earnings Preview: Macy's (M)

Legendary department store Macy's M is due out with earnings before the open tomorrow, and Wall Street will be looking forward to hear what Terry Lundgren and crew have to say about the "My Macy's" initiative, as well as the retail sector as a whole. At last check, shares of Macy's were up 23 cents to $26.41, a gain of just under 1%. Shares are relatively cheap at these levels, trading at around 10 times 2012 earnings, and also sport a 0.8% dividend yield. If investors believe that Macy's can report better than expected numbers, shares look reasonably priced here to take a stab. Wall Street analysts are looking for earnings of 17 cents, up from 9 cents last year. Revenues are expected to grow 4.4% to $5.82 billion, up from $5.57 billion last year. Guidance for next quarter is expected to come in at 42 cents per share on $5.73 billion in revenues. Macy's, Inc., together with it subsidiaries, operates department stores and Internet Websites in the United States. The company's retail stores and Websites sell a range of merchandise.