Macy’s reports lower sales, trims profit forecast

Same-store sales could fall 1.8% to 2.2% in the year ending January, a revision down from the retailer’s earlier forecast for flat same-store sales. The stock is down almost 40% this year. The investor had said a Reit would trade at a higher multiple than the stores. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company.

Appropriately expand Macy’s internationally based on the learnings we expect from the Macy’s China Limited pilot with Alibaba’s Tmall Global beginning in the fourth quarter.

Shares of the retail giant Macy’s (NYSE:M) tumbled this quarter. “It’s a different way of looking at the department-store box than we’ve looked at it in the past, and we’re very excited about it”.

Macy’s Inc. Chairman and CEO Terry Lundgren said the company’s revenues did not show the improvement the company had hoped for in its third quarter.

“The retail industry is going through a tough period”, Mr. Lundgren said.

Chief Financial Officer Karen Hoguet said Macy’s explored the option of spinning off its real estate holdings, but said creating a Real Estate Investment Trust would not create as much value for shareholders as initially hoped.

Instead, he said, Macy’s would focus on forming potential partnerships or joint ventures for its four major flagship properties in New York’s Herald Square, Union Square in San Francisco, State Street in Chicago, and downtown Minneapolis.

But Macy’s has chose to take other steps with its properties.

“I view that positively”, he said. The company now expects total sales for the fiscal to decline by 2.7% to 3.1%, down from its previous guidance of a 1% decrease.

Tepid spending by domestic shoppers and slowing tourism, Lundren said, are at least partly to blame for declines in revenues, profit and comparable store sales in Q3.

“The goal is to make Macy’s more productive”, he said.

U.S. bond markets are closed on Wednesday for Veteran’s Day.

But as the critical holiday shopping season ramps up, Lundgren said Macy’s plans to shift into overdrive to better pursue “sales-driving activities”. Unsold goods have been piling up on retailers’ shelves, a worrisome trend that signals weak consumer spending heading ahead of Black Friday. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.61 EPS.

Net income fell 45.6 percent to $118 million, and net sales were down 5.2 percent to $5.9 billion. It previously announced it would close between 35 to 40 stores in early 2016, among about 800 in the US.

Macy’s and Luxottica Group S.p.A. (LUX) announced an agreement to bring the LensCrafters optical retail experience to as many as 500 Macy’s department stores in the US over the next three years.