NEW YORK — Macy’s swung to a profit in the fourth quarter, though sales dipped with shoppers remaining cautious about spending.
The strength of the quarterly profit surprised Wall Street, but sales were just below expectations and uncertainty about both the American consumer and new tariffs seeped into the company’s outlook for 2025.
Shares slipped just over 1% before the opening bell Thursday.
Macy’s, which also runs Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury, reported net income of $342 million, or $1.21 per share, for the three-month period ended Feb. 1. Adjusted per-share earnings per were $1.80, exceeding analyst expectations of $1.54 estimate, according to FactSet, and reversing a $128 million loss last year.
Sales fell 4.3% to $7.77 billion from $8.12 billion in the year-ago period.
Comparable sales at the overall company— established business from physical stores and online channels — rose 0.2%. At Macy’s nameplate stores, comparable store sales dipped 1.9%.
Macy’s has been on a campaign to modernize stores, and that appears to be working. At the first 50 stores that have been upgraded, comparable sales rose 1.2%.
Macy’s other brands continue to excel, with comparable sales growth at Bloomingdale’s hitting 6.5%, while Bluemercury reported its 16th consecutive quarter of comparable sales growth, the latest at of 6.2%.
Macy’s expects to earn $2.05 to $2.25 per share on net revenue of $21 billion to $21.4 billion in the current year. Analysts expect a profit of $2.29 per share on sales of $21.34 billion.
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