Macy's Inc. Backs Outlook Despite Q1 Earnings Miss

Written by StockNews.com

Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) early Thursday posted much worse than expected first quarter earnings results but reaffirmed its full-year guidance, as sales at established stores continue to decline.

The New York City-based retailer reported Q1:

• earnings per share (EPS) of $0.24, which was $0.12 worse than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $0.36 [while]
• revenues fell 7.5% from last year to $5.34 billion, also missing analysts’ view for $5.49 billion and
• comparable sales (comps) fell 5.2%, which was far worse than Wall Street estimates near -3%.

Looking ahead, Macy’s:

• reiterated its full-year EPS outlook of $2.90 to $3.15, which is in-line with analysts’ view of $3.06...
• sees 2017 revenues declining 3.2% to 4.3%, implying sales of $24.67 to $24.95 billion, straddling Wall Street’s estimate of $24.81 billion...[and]
• expects full-year comps to fall 2.2% to 3.3%.

...[Jeff Gennette, President & CEO of Macy’s, Inc., commented via press release:

“Our first quarter sales and earnings results were consistent with our expectations, and we remain on track to meet our 2017 guidance.

We are encouraged by the performance of the pilot programs we tested last year in categories like women’s shoes, fine jewelry, and furniture and mattresses.

We look forward to expanding these successful initiatives nationally this year and anticipate they will have a measurable impact on our performance starting in the second quarter, building through the fall.

Additionally, our digital platforms showed continued strong growth in the first quarter.

In 2017, we are focused on taking actions to stabilize our brick and mortar business, including the testing and iteration of additional pilot programs in order to bring them to scale in future years.

At the same time, we will invest to aggressively grow our digital and mobile business, while continuing the integration of our online and offline experience to allow our customers to shop the way they live.”

...Year-to-date, M has declined -17.08%, versus a 7.78% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

M currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of D (Sell) and is ranked #43 of 69 stocks in the Fashion & Luxury category.