Macy's loss narrows as coronavirus stress eases

Macy’s Inc. loss narrowed during the second quarter as locations began to reopen from their COVID-19-induced lockdowns.

The Cincinnati-based department store chain lost $431 million, or an adjusted 81 cents per share, as revenue sank 36% year-over-year to $3.56 billion. The results outpaced the $1.77 per share loss and $3.47 billion of revenue that Wall Street analysts surveyed by Refintiv were anticipating.

Macy’s lost $3.58 billion during the previous quarter.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
M	MACY'S INC.	16.16	+0.18	+1.16%

“Restarting our stores was our top priority, and we successfully accomplished that while also ensuring that our digital business remained strong,” CEO Jeff Gennette said in a statement. “We are encouraged by our second quarter performance; however, we continue to approach the back half of the year conservatively.”

A faster-than-expected recovery of in-store sales and continued strength in digital sales resulted in comparable sales falling 35% on both an owned basis and owned plus licensed basis. Digital sales rose 53% versus a year ago.

Strong sales resulted in inventory falling 29% from a year ago, which left the company in a “clean inventory position.”

The company had $1.4 billion cash and access to $3 billion through an unused credit facility.

Macy’s previously withdrew its guidance and did not provide an update due to the uncertainty caused by COVID-19.

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Shares were down 59% this year through Tuesday, lagging the S&P 500’s 9.16% gain. Macy's was removed from the index in April.