Shares of Macy's Inc M dipped nearly 3 percent after the company issued an update relating to its holiday sales performance, 2017 guidance, and an update to store closures in 2018.
What You Need To Know
Macy's announced its comparable sales on an owned basis rose 1.0 percent in the months of November and December 2017. On an owned plus licensed basis, comparable sales came in slightly higher at 1.1 percent in the same period. The company cited improved holiday sales across Macy's Backstage, Bloomingdale's, Bloomingdale's The Outlet and Bluemercury, while exclusive gifts showed strong performance.
Top performing sales categories were active apparel, apparel, shoes, dresses, coats, fine jewelry, men's tailored clothing, children's and home. Beauty products was said to be a "highlight and showed a marked improvement."
The strong holiday sales prompted management to improve its fiscal 2017 guidance range from a prior range of $3.38-$3.63 to a new range of $3.59-$3.69. The company also sees its fiscal 2017 comps down 2.4-2.7 percent for owned stores, down 2-2.3 percent for owned plus licensed basis and total sales to be down between 3.6-3.9 percent.
Why It's Important
"Macy's had a solid holiday shopping season, and we are pleased that our November/December performance resulted in positive comp sales for the period, setting us up for a positive fourth quarter," said CEO Jeff Gennette. "Consumers were ready to spend this season, and we delivered... We saw improved sales trends in our stores and continued to see double-digit growth on our digital platforms. Customers also responded well to our new loyalty program. We intend to close the fourth quarter in a good position and head into 2018 with momentum."
What's Next?
Macy's confirmed the closure of 11 stores, four of which were previously disclosed. The new round of closure announcements would bring its total store closure count to 81 out of a 100 planned store closures that were announced in August 2016. Since 2015, the company closed 124 stores including the stores closures announced Thursday.
Shares of Macy's fell about 3 percent, traded up about 1 percent at $25.21 at time of publication.
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