Macy's Stock Falls After Disappointing Results Trump Dividend, Buyback Increase

Macy's Inc.'s stock slumped 2.4% in premarket trade, as the company's announcement of a dividend hike and increased share buybacks wasn't enough to overcome disappointing first-quarter results. For the quarter ended May 2, earnings declined to $193 million, or 56 cents a share, from $224 million, or 60 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenue fell 0.7% to $6.23 billion. The FactSet consensus was for earnings per share of 62 cents and revenue of $6.32 billion. Same-store sales declined 0.1%, compared with the FactSet consensus for an increase of 1.1%. Among factors mentioned by Chief Executive Terry Lundgren for falling short of sales expectations were delayed shipments from the West Coast port slowdown, severe winter weather, lower levels of spending by international tourists visiting major U.S. cities and temporary disruptions from an omnichannel reorganization. Separately, Macy's said it was increasing its quarterly dividend to 36 cents a share from 31.25 cents, and increasing the share repurchase program by $1.5 billion. The stock has lost 0.6% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 2%.