Nordstrom 4Q Tops Street; Guidance Timid

Luxury department-store chain Nordstrom, Inc. (NYSE:JWN) announced fourth-quarter results that topped the Street’s expectations, but shares fell in trading after hours as the company gave soft fiscal 2012 guidance.

The upscale retailer forecast same-store sale growth of 4% to 6% in fiscal 2012, with earnings-per-share in the range of $3.30 to $3.45.  Analysts were looking for full-year earnings averaging $3.59 a share, well above the company’s guidance range.

Nordstrom weighed in with net earnings that grew 1.7% to $236 million, or $1.11 per share, compared with year-ago earnings of $232 million, or $1.04 a share.

Revenue rose to $3.27 billion, up from year-ago sales of $2.82 billion. Same-store sales shot up an impressive 7.1% compared with the year-ago quarter.

The results beat the Street’s view; analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted earnings of $1.09 a share on revenue of $3.17 billion.

Shares of Nordstrom rose 2.3% on Thursday, closing out the session at $52.18 a share. The stock was down 83 cents, or 1.59%, in after-hours trading.