Macy's Proves It's Taking The Right Steps For A Turnaround: Beats Earnings Estimates

Macy's M released its Q2 results before the open on Thursday. Earnings per share came in above Wall Street consensus expectations, sending shares up 11.61 percent. Macy's reported EPS of $0.54 and revenues of $5.866 billion. Analyst consensus had an EPS estimate of $0.45 and revenues of $5.74 billion.

A Turnaround Looming?

The company announced its continuing pursuance of its real estates opportunities while evaluating four possible Macy's flagship stores downtown in various cities. In addition, the Macy's said it would recreate its physical store footprint "to capitalize on Macy's unique competitive advantage of operating in the most attractive retailing location sin America." Macy's also announced its plan to close about 100 full line stores and charged $249 million in Q2 related to these closings. The retail company saw FY16 EPS at $3.15-$3.40 vs. estimates of $3.26. "We are encouraged by the distinct improvement in our sales and earnings trend in the second quarter. Over the past few months, we have been saying that a setback is a setup for a comeback, and we now believe we are set up well to proceed to a comeback. Our sales strengthened month-by-month throughout the second quarter. This trend improvement gives us confidence in our plans for the back half of the year, and in our strategic planning for improvements to our business model going forward," said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman and CEO. "A number of factors worked in our favor in the second quarter, including a normalized weather pattern, which contributed to a sales lift in our apparel business in particular. We also saw a smaller decrease in tourist spending during prime summer travel months, supported by strengthened promotional events designed to increase customer traffic and conversion. Macy's first-ever ‘Black Friday in July' event was a terrific success which drove record store and online sales for a mid-year period," Lundgren stated. At the time of writing, Macy's traded at $38.00 in Thursday's pre-market session.