Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) released its latest earnings report before opening bell this morning, posting earnings of 61 cents per share, an improvement of 30%, on $6.2 billion in sales, a 1.3% decline year over year. Analysts had been looking for earnings of 50 cents per share on $6.34 billion in revenue for the third quarter. In the same quarter last year, Macy’s earned 47 cents per share on $6.28 billion in revenue.
Key metrics from Macy’s earnings report
Same store sales fell by .7% year over year, compared to Wall Street’s expectations of 1.3% growth. Comparable sales excluding licensed businesses fell 1.4% year over year. During the third quarter, Macy’s opened three new stores and closed two. The retail chain also consolidated three stores into one in the Torrance, Calif. market.
Operating income was $422 million or 6.8% of sales, compared to $360 million or 5.57% of sales in last year’s third quarter. Net cash from operations was $7
Macy’s lowers guidance
The department store chain also cut its full year earnings per share guidance. The previously provided outlook was between $4.40 and $4.50 per share. The new guidance is for between $4.25 and $4.35 per share.
The company expects full year comparable sales with comparable sales of departments licensed to third parties to rise by between 1.2% and 1.5%. Excluding licensed businesses, Macy’ expects a .7% to 1% increase. The previous guidance was for growth of between 2% and 2.5% in comparable sales and growth of between 1.5% and 2% excluding comparable sales of departments licensed to third parties. For the fourth quarter, the retail chain expects comparable sales to grow by between 2% and 3% and comparable sales excluding sales of licensed departments to grow by between 1.8% and 2.8%.
Macy’s repurchased about 9 million shares for about $534 million during the third quarter. So far this year, the company repurchased about 25.3 million shares for about $1.48 billion. As of Nov. 1, Macy’s had about $1.45 billion in repurchase authorization left on its current program.