Macy’s and Wal-Mart released their latest quarterly earnings results before opening bell this morning. Macy’s posted adjusted earnings per share of $2.02 on $8.5 billion in revenue, compared to the consensus estimates of $1.95 per share and $8.6 billion. In the year-ago quarter, the department store chain reported $2.09 per share in earnings on $8.87 billion in sales.
Wal-Mart reported adjusted earnings of $1.30 per share on $130.9 billion in revenue. Analysts were looking for $1.28 per share and $131.1 billion in revenue. In the year-ago quarter, the big box retailer reported $129.7 billion in sales.
Macy’s said GAAP earnings per share fell to $1.54 from $1.73 per share in the year-ago quarter. Same store sales on an owned plus licensed basis fell 2.1% year over year. Same store sales on an owned basis fell 2.7%.
The department store chain sold $673 million worth of assets in fiscal 2017, resulting in book gains of $209 million. The company said it “continues to harvest real estate value opportunistically” and plans to close “less productive stores” and sell the real estate associated with them.
In fiscal 2017, Macy’s expects comparable sales to fall by 2% to 3% on an owned plus licensed basis. The company expects owned store sales to fall by 2.2% to 3.3% year over year this year, while total sales are expected to fall by between 3.2% and 4.3% as a result of the 66 stores that were closed last year.
Shares of Macy’s jumped by as much as 3.13% to $33.31 in premarket trades this morning.
Wal-Mart’s GAAP earnings per share fell to $1.22 from $1.43 per share in the year-ago quarter. Same store sales in the U.S. grew 1.8%, coming in ahead of the consensus of 1.3%. Sam’s Club same store sales rose 2.4%, which was significantly ahead of the consensus of 1.2%.
Wal-Mart expects fiscal 2018 earnings to be between $4.20 and $4.40 per share, which is roughly in line with the $3.32 per share consensus at the midpoint. The big box retailer expects first quarter earnings to be between 90 cents and $1 per share, compared to the consensus of 96 cents. It expects U.S. same store sales to grow by 1% to 1.5%, compared to the consensus of 1.2% growth.
Shares of Wal-Mart rose by as much as 2.38% to $71.02 in premarket trades this morning.
