Macy's swings to profit in Q3, beats Street

New York City Macy's reported Wednesday that it swung to a profit of $10 million in the quarter ended Oct. 30, compared with a loss of $35 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue increased 6.6% to $5.62 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $5.56 billion.

Same-store sales rose 3.9%.

The department store retailer, which also owns Bloomingdale’s, attributed the improved performance to strong sales of localized merchandise -- a plan rolled out systemwide by the retailer last year -- and increased luxury spending by Bloomies customers.

"Throughout 2010, we have gained confidence and momentum as customers have responded favorably to our execution of key strategies developed and activated over the past few years," Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, CEO and president of Macy's, said in a statement. "This bodes well for our business as we enter the holiday selling season."