Macy’s stock stumbles on lowered FY18 outlook

Macy’s Inc (M) reported holiday sales results for the month of November/December 2018 and cut down its outlook for FY18 from the earlier forecast announced in November. Shares of Macy’s plunged more than 15% in the pre-market trading on Thursday.

For the November/December 2018 period, comparable sales of Macy’s owned and licensed stores modestly grew by 1.1%. Comp sales in the owned stores had a slight growth of 0.7%.

Related: Macy’s Q3 2018 earnings conference call transcript

The Cincinnati-based department store chain lowered its earnings and sales outlook for FY18. The company cut down comparable sales (owned plus licensed) forecast to approx +2% versus the previous forecast of +2.3% to +2.5% which was announced in November 2018. The company currently estimates sales to be flat compared to the earlier outlook of +0.3% to 0.7%. EPS outlook was reduced to $3.95 to $4.00 from the prior guidance of $4.10 to $4.30.

Macy’s Inc Q3 2018 Earnings Infograph

“The holiday season began strong – particularly during Black Friday and the following Cyber Week, but weakened in the mid-December period and did not return to expected patterns until the week of Christmas,” said CEO Jeff Gennette.

Macy’s stock had dropped 3% in the last months and had gained 28% in the last 12 months. In the past 52 weeks, Macy’s shares have been trading between $22.47 and $41.99.

Macy’s will report its fourth quarter 2018 earnings results on February 26, 2019, before the market opens.

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