Nordstrom ‘s second-quarter earnings smashed expectations and management reaffirmed its financial forecasts for the fiscal year, even as sales at the company’s banner stores fell more than 10%.
Revenue of $3.77 billion was ahead of expectations for $3.68 billion, but fell around 8% compared with the prior year. Nordstrom’s decision to push back its yearly Anniversary Sale by a week and wind down its Canadian operations accounted for roughly half of that decline, the company said. “We’ve worked hard to improve our operating model, and our solid results reflect the continued progress we made against our top priorities to improve Nordstrom Rack performance, increase inventory productivity and deliver efficiencies through supply chain optimization,” said CEO Erik Nordstrom.
The stock was down 3.9% at $16.91 shortly before the close, dragged lower by concerns over consumers’ financial strength following more downbeat commentary from Burlington Stores’ and Dollar Tree’s . That left the gain so far in 2023 at 4.7%.