Macy’s profit beats Street; forecast tops views

Cincinnati -- Macy's earned a better-than-expected $730 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $745 million a year earlier when it booked one-time gains from the sale of store leases. The department store retailer forecast an annual profit for the recently completed year that surpassed analysts’ estimates and provided new guidance for continued growth and progress for 2013.



“Going into 2013, our team is moving ahead with new plans and actions to sharpen our approach to localized merchandise assortments and marketing, which we continue to believe is Macy’s sustainable competitive advantage,” said Macy’s chairman, president and CEO Terry Lundgren. “We are accelerating progress in omni-channel strategies at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s to bring together our efforts in stores, online and mobile in a manner that satisfies emerging shopping patterns and capitalizes on the strength of our inventory regardless of where the customer demand occurs.”



Sales in the quarter ended February 2, 2013, rose 7.2% to $9.35 billion from $8.72 billion. Same- store sales rose 3.9%, helped by a 48% surge in online sales.



For the full year, Macy’s sales totaled $27.686 billion, up 4.9% from the previous year. 2011. On a same-store basis, sales were up 3.7%, better than the chain’s initial guidance.



Online sales (macys.com and bloomingdales.com combined) were up 47.7% in the fourth quarter and 41% for the year. Online sales are included in the same-store sales calculation for Macy's.