Macy’s Stock Soars as ‘Omni-Channel’ Retailer’s Comparable Sales Unexpectedly Rise

• Macy’s exceeded profit and sales forecasts and lifted its outlook as comparable sales grew.

• Comparable sales were up at its Macy’s and Macy’s “Reimagine” stores, as well as Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury locations.

• Macy’s increased its full-year adjusted earnings per share and sales forecasts.

Macy’s (M) shares jumped nearly 20% Wednesday after the biggest U.S. department store chain posted better-than-expected results and boosted its guidance on solid demand at its “Reimagine” namesake locations, as well as Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury stores.

The company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.41—more than double what analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for. Revenue fell nearly 2% year-over-year to $5.0 billion, also above forecasts. Comparable sales were up 0.8%, while the Visible Alpha estimate was for a decline of 0.3%.

While sales at Macy’s stores were down 3.8%, comparable store sales rose 0.4%. At its 125 “Reimagine” stores, comparable sales were 1.1% higher. Sales and comparable sales rose at both Bloomingdale’s (4.6% and 3.6%, respectively) and Bluemercury (3.3% and 1.2%).

The company slashed selling, general, and administrative expenses by $29 million to $1.9 billion, which came from the closure of Macy’s locations and cost-cutting strategies.

CEO Tony Spring said Macy’s had its strongest comparable sales growth in 12 quarters, adding that the performance reflected the firm’s “advantages of being a multi-brand, multi-category, omni-channel retailer.”

The company now sees full-year adjusted EPS of $1.70 to $2.05, compared to its earlier outlook of $1.60 to $2.00. It anticipates sales of $21.15 billion to $21.45 billion, versus the previous expectation of $21.0 billion to $21.4 billion.

Even with today’s sharp gains, shares of Macy’s remain more than 5% lower year-to-date.

Read the original article on Investopedia