Macy’s Earnings Stung by Weather-Related Store Closings

For the full year, Macy’s posted EPS of $4.00 on revenues of $27.93 billion, compared to EPS of $3.46 on revenues of $27.69 billion. 2012 included 53 weeks, compared with 52 weeks in 2013. The consensus estimates called for EPS of $3.87 on revenues of $28.02 billion.

GAAP earnings included a one-time charge of $88 million for restructuring.

On a comparable store basis, fourth-quarter sales rose 1.4% and full-year sales rose 1.9%. On January 8 the company guided total quarterly sales up 2.3% to 2.5%. Tuesday the store reported sales growth of 2.3%. Full-year total sales growth came in a 2.9%

The company also reiterated its 2014 guidance announced in January for same-store sales growth of 2.5% to 3% and EPS of $4.40 to $4.50.

The company’s CEO said:

While we had expected a sales decline in January because of the calendar shift, the month was down further than we had expected and we are very disappointed with sales performance in January. In part, poor January sales were due to the unusually harsh winter weather across much of the country. At one time or another during January, 244 Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores were closed because of weather, and the business remained sluggish until Valentine’s Day. Once warm spring weather arrives and our full assortment of fresh spring merchandise is in place, we believe customers will return to a more normalized pattern of shopping. But based on our experience in January and early February, we are watching business trends closely.

The poor results in January will hit the shares in early trading, but Macy’s overall performance and outlook are pretty good.

Shares were down more than 2% in premarket trading, at $51.85 in a 52-week range of $38.52 to $56.65. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $62.20 before the results were announced.