Department Store Stocks Slammed As Q1 Results Look Abysmal

Long investors in the

have had a tough week to close out the first-quarter earnings season. The ETF is down about 5 percent over the week, marking a several month low. A portion of that weakness has been related to disappointing results out of the department store sub group. Below is a review of individual performance within the sector:

-

, missed on sales and reduced FY16 adjusted earnings from $3.80-$3.90 to $3.15-$3.40 per share. A bright spot: Macy's raised its quarterly dividend ahead of schedule, from $0.36 to $0.3775 per share. A Morgan Stanley analyst

the quarterly report as the worst since the recession as possibly signaling a "tough road ahead." The stock fell 17 percent since the report.

- missed both first-quarter earnings and sales: earnings of $0.31 per share compared to an analyst estimate of $0.37 on sales of $3.97 billion vs a $4.1 billion analyst estimate. Kohl's shares fell 9 percent over the course of this week.

- in addition to missing on both the top and bottom lines, Nordstrom reduced FY16 EPS guidance from $3.10-$3.35 to $2.50-$2.70 and sales growth guidance from 3.5 percent-5.5 percent to 2.5 percent-4.5 percent. Shares of Nordstroms have been among the hardest hit, down 18 percent since the report.

- reported quarterly earnings of $2.17 on sales of $1.5 billion. Analysts had been looking for EPS of $2.52 on sales of $1.56 billion. The stock has fallen 7 percent on the heels of the report.

- although a better-than-expected loss of $0.32 per share, sales of $2.81 billion missed the mark which was set at about $2.92 billion. Shares of JCP have traded down nearly 12 percent Friday morning.

- the last left to report, Sears is expected to issue quarterly results in a couple weeks on May 26.