Macy’s and J.C. Penney beat Street in February

New York City Macy’s was among the department store retailers reporting better-than-expected sales in February. The Cincinnati-based retailer said its February same-same store sales rose 3.7%, above the 1.4% analysts had expected, according to Thomson Reuters. Many retailers, including Macy’s, said their results would have been even better without the snow and cold weather that affected multiple regions of the country throughout the month.

Overall for the four weeks ending Feb. 27, total sales rose 4% to $1.64 billion. CEO Terry J. Lundgren said same-store sales would have risen about 5% if they hadn't been disrupted by a series of winter storms in key markets. Online sales rose 38% in the quarter.

At J.C. Penney, February same-store sales rose 1.2%, better than the 1.3% drop Wall Street analysts had expected. Total company sales in February increased 1.5% to $1.18 billion.

Geographically, the southeast region was the best-performing region in February, while the northeast region had the softest sales during the month and reflected a negative impact from adverse weather conditions.

Kohl’s Department Stores said its February same-store sales rose 3.7%. Wall Street analysts had expected a 4.1% increase. Total sales increased 7.8% to $1.08 billion.

Kohl’s said the West and Southeast regions led the company. From a line-of-business perspective, home and accessories reported the strongest comparable-store sales increases.

In other results:

• Nordstrom said its sales were up 10.3%, beating analysts' expectations for a 6.2% increase.

• Saks’ sales rose 2%. Analysts, on average, had expected same-store sales to rise 3.8%, according to Thomson Reuters. Total sales for the four weeks ended Feb. 28 rose 3.1% to $171.8 million.

• Bon-Ton Stores’ sales edged up 0.5%, and would have risen more if sales weren't disrupted by winter storms, the company said.

• Dillard's sales edged up 2%, helped by strong sales of men's clothing, accessories and shoes. The performance easily surpassed Wall Street's expectations.