UPDATE: Macy's Posts Upbeat Q4 Earnings, Sales Miss Estimates

reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based company posted quarterly net earnings of $793 million, or $2.26 per share, versus $811 million, or $2.16 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding charges, the company earned $2.44 per share, beating analysts' estimates of $2.39 per share. Its sales climbed 1.8% to $9.364 billion from $9.202 billion, versus analysts' expectations of $9.4 billion. In the quarter, comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis rose 2.5%, while comparable sales on an owned basis climbed 2.0%. Operating income came in at $1.364 billion or 14.6% of sales, compared to $1.349 billion or 14.7% of sales. In fiscal 2014, Macy's repurchased around 31.9 million shares of its common stock for around $1.9 billion. Terry J. Lundgren, chairman and chief executive officer of Macy's, Inc. said, "Our success in progressively increasing sales with double-digit increases in profitability in recent years has been the result of disciplined execution of our M.O.M. strategies and continuous improvement in every aspect of our business, made possible by the exceptional talent we have at all levels of the organization." For 2015, Macy's projects earnings of $4.70 to $4.80 per share on sales growth of around 1%. Analysts had expected earnings of $4.84 per share. Macy's shares fell 0.25% to $64.00 in pre-market trading.