Macy’s Shares Plummet Amid Sales Losses: Can It Make A Comeback For The Holidays?

Macy’s (M) has released its third-quarter earnings report, sending its shares down nearly 4% on Thursday. The retailer lowered its annual sales and EPS expectations for fiscal 2019, upon a decline of 3.9% in comparable sales.

The company reported a net income of $2 million, down from $62 million in Q3 2018. Net sales were $5.173 million, also down from 2018’s $5.404 million. Diluted EPS was $0.01, with adjusted diluted EPS at $0.07.

“After seven consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth, we experienced a deceleration in our third quarter sales,” Jeff Gennette, chairman and CEO at Macy’s said. “While we anticipated a negative comp as we were lapping a very strong third quarter last year, the sales deceleration was steeper than we expected. However, having cleared the excess inventory we faced earlier in the year, we were able to take a more balanced approach to sales and profit in the quarter, resulting in significantly improved margin compression versus the first half of the year.

“Our third quarter sales were impacted by the late arrival of cold weather, continued soft international tourism and weaker than anticipated performance in lower tier malls. We also experienced a temporary impact on our e-commerce business due in part to work on the site in preparation for the fourth quarter. The team has completed that work, the site is upgraded and our customers can expect an improved experience this holiday season. Based primarily on the impact of our third quarter sales trend, we are updating our annual guidance,” he added.

Mary’s said it expects 2019 net sales to be down 2.5 to 2%, up from previous expectation of flat to 1%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share is expected to range from $2.57 to $2.77, down from the $2.85 to $3.05 previous guidance.

“We have confidence in our holiday strategies,” Gennette said. “The Macy’s, Bloomingdales and Bluemercury teams are aligned and committed to delivering a great experience for our customers in our stores, on our digital sites and through our mobile apps.

“We have fully updated our Growth150 stores and completed the 2019 expansion of Backstage. We have curated an expanded gift assortment with great values in all categories and developed a powerful marketing calendar for both our best and occasional customers,” he added.

The company’s updated guidance also includes a comparable sales decrease of 1 to 1.5% for owned plus licensed, up from its flat to up to 1% previous expectations.

Shares of Macy's stock were down 2.93% as of 11:01 a.m. EST on Thursday.