Nordstrom’s overall sales and earnings dipped but the company beat analyst expectations as the retailer’s Rack off-price brand continued to grow.
In the second quarter ended July 30, Nordstrom recorded earnings of $117 million, or 67 cents per diluted share, as compared to $211 million, or $1.09 per diluted share, in the period a year before.
A Thomson Reuters analyst average estimate called for earnings per share of 56 cents per share.
Nordstrom company-wide net sales decreased 1.2% in the second quarter year over year. Net sales were $3.59 billion versus $3.6 billion in the year-earlier quarter.
In the Nordstrom brand, including contributions from full-line stores in the U.S. and Canada, Nordstrom.com and Trunk Club, net sales decreased 0.4% and comparable sales slipped 2.3%. In U.S. full-line stores and Nordstrom.com, the top-performing merchandise categories were beauty and shoes, according to the company, and the midwest was the top-performing geographic region.
In the Nordstrom Rack brand, including Nordstrom Rack stores and Nordstromrack.com/HauteLook, net sales increased 11.2% and comparable sales gained 5.3%, the company noted, while the east was the top-performing geographic region.
Nordstrom said that its Anniversary Sale, historically the company’s largest annual promotional event, performed better than recent trends. However, the event started a week later in July relative to last year, shifting one week of the occasion into the third quarter. The shift trimmed 250 basis points from company comparable sales in the second quarter, Nordstrom asserted.
“Over the past several quarters, our team has been actively addressing our inventory, expense and capital, and in the second quarter, made substantial progress by bringing down inventory in-line with sales,” said Blake Nordstrom, the company’s co-president. “Those efforts, along with the strength of our Anniversary Sale and a great response from customers to that event, drove better than expected results for the second quarter.”
Nordstrom operates 329 stores in 39 states, including 121 full-line stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, as well as 200 Nordstrom Rack stores.
