Dillard’s beats Street with strong Q4 performance
Dillard's Inc. shares rose nearly 5% in Tuesday premarket trading after the retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat expectations.
Net income totaled $157.6 million, or $5.55 per share, in the period ended Feb. 3, up from $56.9 million, or $1.72 per share, in the year-ago quarter, which had one less week. The result includes a $77.4 million benefit ($2.73 per share) from the recent tax overhaul. Excluding the tax benefit, earnings per share were $2.82, blowing past the analysts’ estimates of $1.82 per share.
Net sales rose 6% to a better-than-expected $2.06 billion, up from $1.94 billion last year. Same-store sales rose 3%, also more than the Street forecast.
The retailer said sales of ladies' apparel, juniors' and children's apparel and men's apparel and accessories were above the average company sales trend during the fourth quarter. Sales were slightly below trend in cosmetics and below trend in ladies' accessories and lingerie, home and furniture and shoes. Sales were strongest in the Western and Eastern regions followed by the Central region.
"The positive sales trends we noted at the end of the third quarter continued through the fourth," said William Dillard II, CEO, Dillard’s, which operates 268 stores and 24 clearance centers spanning 24 states.
For the full fiscal year, Dillard's had net sales of $6.26 billion, a slight increase over the previous year. Same-store sales were flat. Net income for the year rose to $221.3 million from $169.2 million in the year-ago period.
Despite the chain’s positive performance, analyst Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, sounded a cautionary note.
“Dillard's is becoming less relevant, he wrote. “Its cavernous stores, crammed full of merchandise are hard to shop. In many locations, it has far too much space. And its brand image tends towards fusty rather than modern. These are just some of the factors that put it on the wrong side of history.” For more click here.
Net income totaled $157.6 million, or $5.55 per share, in the period ended Feb. 3, up from $56.9 million, or $1.72 per share, in the year-ago quarter, which had one less week. The result includes a $77.4 million benefit ($2.73 per share) from the recent tax overhaul. Excluding the tax benefit, earnings per share were $2.82, blowing past the analysts’ estimates of $1.82 per share.
Net sales rose 6% to a better-than-expected $2.06 billion, up from $1.94 billion last year. Same-store sales rose 3%, also more than the Street forecast.
The retailer said sales of ladies' apparel, juniors' and children's apparel and men's apparel and accessories were above the average company sales trend during the fourth quarter. Sales were slightly below trend in cosmetics and below trend in ladies' accessories and lingerie, home and furniture and shoes. Sales were strongest in the Western and Eastern regions followed by the Central region.
"The positive sales trends we noted at the end of the third quarter continued through the fourth," said William Dillard II, CEO, Dillard’s, which operates 268 stores and 24 clearance centers spanning 24 states.
For the full fiscal year, Dillard's had net sales of $6.26 billion, a slight increase over the previous year. Same-store sales were flat. Net income for the year rose to $221.3 million from $169.2 million in the year-ago period.
Despite the chain’s positive performance, analyst Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, sounded a cautionary note.
“Dillard's is becoming less relevant, he wrote. “Its cavernous stores, crammed full of merchandise are hard to shop. In many locations, it has far too much space. And its brand image tends towards fusty rather than modern. These are just some of the factors that put it on the wrong side of history.” For more click here.