Macy’s on Tuesday reported its first quarterly profit in a year, as its efforts to slash inventories during the holiday quarter and rely less on deep discounting paid off.
The company said it expects 2021 to be a “recovery and rebuilding” year, as it claws its way back from the losses it has suffered during the pandemic. It offered an outlook for earnings and sales that it said considers continued pandemic-related obstacles during the spring, with momentum escalating in the back half of 2021.
Macy’s shares were up more than 1% in premarket trading.
Here’s how the company did during the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, compared with what analysts were anticipating, based on a poll by Refinitiv:
Earnings per share: 80 cents, adjusted, vs. 12 cents, expected
Revenue: $6.78 billion vs. $6.5 billion, expected
Net income for the quarter ended Jan. 30 fell to $160 million, or 50 cents per share, from $340 million, or $1.09 per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time charges, the company earned 80 cents per share, better than the 12 cents expected by analysts.
Sales fell to $6.78 billion from $8.34 billion a year ago. That came in better than the $6.5 billion that analysts were expecting.
Macy’s said its same-store sales, on an owned plus licensed basis, fell 17.1% from 2019 levels. Analysts were calling for a 21.3% drop, according to Refinitiv data.
E-commerce sales were up 21% in the lastet period.
Macy’s said it expects its annual online sales will eclipse $10 billion within the next three years.
CEO Jeff Gennette remarked the company saw the most strength in home, beauty, jewelry and watches during the quarter.
Looking to fiscal 2021, Macy’s is calling for sales to fall within a range of of $19.75 billion to $20.75 billion. Analysts had been calling for annual revenue of $20.13 billion.
It expects adjusted earnings per share to fall within a range of 40 cents to 90 cents. Analysts had forecast adjusted earnings of 77 cents a share.
