Macy's says coronavirus losses lower than feared

The department store chain lost $652M in the first quarter

The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t hit Macy’s as hard as initially feared, according to updated preliminary first-quarter results released Tuesday morning.

The Cincinnati-based department store chain lost $652 million, or an adjusted $2.03 a share, in the three months through March as revenue fell 45 percent from a year ago to $3.02 billion. Macy’s last month estimated that it would lose between $905 million and $1.1 billion during the first three months of the year.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
M MACY'S INC. 16.93 +0.69 +4.25%

“The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted our first-quarter sales and earnings results, but I am proud of the way our team navigated this difficult period and maintained the business while our stores were closed,” CEO Jeff Gennette said in a statement. “Our strong digital business sales trend continued throughout May, and it is encouraging to see that as we reopen a store, the digital business in that geography continues to be strong.

Macy's had $1.52 billion cash at the end of the quarter as total debt rose to $5.66 billion from $4.72 billion. The company on Monday evening announced it had secured $4.5 billion of new financing.

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Macy's shares were down 43 percent this year while the S&P 500 was little changed.