Department store chain Macy’s (NYSE: M) will be reporting earnings this Wednesday morning. Here’s what you need to know.

Macy's beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 2.7% last quarter, reporting revenues of $5.00 billion, down 1.9% year on year. It was an exceptional quarter for the company, with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

Is Macy's a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Macy’s revenue to decline 3.6% year on year to $4.73 billion, in line with the 2.7% decrease it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted loss is expected to come in at -$0.15 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Macy's has only missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates once over the last two years, exceeding top-line expectations by 1.1% on average.

Looking at Macy’s peers in the general merchandise retail segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Dillard's delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 2.7%, beating analysts’ expectations by 3.1%, and Kohl's reported a revenue decline of 3.6%, topping estimates by 2.5%. Dillard's traded up 4.8% following the results while Kohl's was also up 50.9%.

Read our full analysis of Dillard’s results here and Kohl’s results here.

There has been positive sentiment among investors in the general merchandise retail segment, with share prices up 5.2% on average over the last month. Macy's is up 14.6% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $17.32 (compared to the current share price of $22.83).

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